With less than seven months remaining until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, the group stage draw was carried out this Friday at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The event finalized the respective rivals that the 48 qualified national teams will face in the first phase.
Unlike previous World Cups, this historic edition will be the first to feature 48 nations instead of the traditional 32. To form the groups in this new format, all qualified nations were divided into four pots based on their FIFA World Ranking classification.
The groups for the FIFA World Cup 2026 were composed of one team from each pot, while adhering to the rule that prohibits two countries from the same confederation from being part of the same group. The only exception is UEFA, as 16 nations will qualify from Europe for the 12 groups, meaning four groups are composed of two European nations.