The FIFA World Cup Trophy is seen outside the White House ahead of the FIFA World Cup Draw on December 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Calling all World Cup fans!
The world is a few months away from the start of the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup, but first, we need to find out who is playing who, otherwise known as the World Cup Draw.
Here’s a guide to which teams will be playing against one another and where you can watch the draw.
How to watch the World Cup Draw
The World Cup Draw will air live on FOX. It will also be streamed on FOX One, FOXSports.com, and the FOX Sports App.
What Are Pots? How Does It Determine Groups?
The 48 participating teams (or qualifying slots) will be placed into "pots" based on criteria such as FIFA rankings and confederation constraints. We already know 42 of those 48 teams ahead of the draw. The other six teams will be known by March 2026.
Each of the four pots will have 12 teams (with placeholders for those six March teams). And each group will therefore have one team from each pot.
Each team's name is written on a slip of paper inside a plastic ball and put in large glass bowls (pots) numbered 1 through 4. A representative (often a soccer legend or celebrity) will then draw one ball from each pot, open it up, and call out the country's name.
For pot 1, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as the host countries, will be identified by different colored balls and, when drawn, will be assigned to position A1 for Mexico (green ball), B1 for Canada (red ball) and D1 for the USA (blue ball), as already established per the match schedule released. The remaining nine top-ranked teams in pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same color and automatically allocated to the top position of the group into which they are drawn.
FIFA announced that the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second highest-ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly drawn into opposite sides of the bracket, as well as the third (France) and fourth (England) highest-ranked teams. This will ensure that, should those four teams win their groups, they won't meet until the semifinals.
A view of the trophy as the road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup officially began with the unveiling of the countdown clock in Mexico City, Mexico on June 11, 2025. Fans gathered to celebrate the milestone, marking the final stretch before the world's big …
Qualifiers are still taking place
UEFA playoffs features 16 countries vying for four World Cup berths
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) World Cup qualifying playoffs will be held in March with 16 teams vying for four World Cup berths. The teams are divided into four pots according to FIFA rankings.
UEFA European playoff teams:
Pot 1
Italy, Denmark, Turkey, and Ukraine
Pot 2
Poland, Wales, Czech Republic, Slovakia
Pot 3
Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo
Pot 4
Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Sweden
Intercontinental Playoffs features six countries vying for two World Cup berths
The final two World Cup qualifiers will be determined by the Intercontinental Playoffs taking place in March in Mexico. The tournament is composed of six teams: one team each from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) — Iraq, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), — Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) — Bolivia, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) - New Caledonia, and two teams from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) - Jamaica and Suriname.
The four lowest-ranked nations in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will meet in bracket semi-finals with the two highest-ranked teams going directly into the finals. The winners of the two bracket finals will take part in the FIFA World Cup 26.
When is the World Cup?
Big picture view:
The 2026 World Cup is next summer, running from June 11 through July 19, 2026.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from FOX Sports and The Associated Press. This story was reported from San Jose.