World Cup 2026 Draw: Mexico, Argentina & Spain Details

CNN Español
—

10 days after knowing the draw for the next FIFA World Cup, the mother house of world football published the procedure that will be carried out on December 5, when the draw for the 2026 World Cup will be made.

There are 42 selections already confirmed and another six that will be known in March, so there will be 48 balls in the draw, divided into four pots of 12 each.

First of all, FIFA confirmed some assumptions: the three organizing countries will be in the Bomb 1 along with the nine best-placed teams in the latest FIFA ranking: Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

The same classification will be used for the other 30 selected teams that already have their ticket secured: the next 12 best placed teams will go to the Bomb 2 and the next 12 to Bomb 3. The six worst national teams will go to the Bomb 4which still has six seats available: four are for the UEFA playoffs and two for the intercontinental playoffs (concacaf, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania teams participate).

The draw will begin with something that we will all already know: the first three balls to come out will be those of the three organizers, already knowing that Mexico will be seeded in the Group ACanada Group B and the United States of Group D. On the bolillero, these three spheres will be marked with a particular color: that of Mexico will be green, that of Canada will be red and that of the United States will be blue. The other nine will be white.

After the names of the local countries come out, the remaining nine balls from Pot 1 will follow, but here the surprises begin. FIFA announced that, with the aim of maintaining a “competitive balance”, the two best teams in the ranking, Spain and Argentina, will go to two completely different parts of the table, guaranteeing that, if they win their respective groups, they will only meet in a hypothetical final. The same will happen with France and England, which are in the third and fourth step of the classification.

Once all the names from Pot 1 have been drawn, the same will be done in Pot 2, Pot 3 and Pot 4. Only when one of these pots is finished will the next be proceeded to and, at the end, the 12 zones will have at least one representative from each of them.

FIFA made another clarification that will be key to understanding the draw: “as far as possible” there will be no groups with teams from the same confederation, with the exception of Europe, and everyone will have European representation, but in no case will it be more than two. That is, there will be eight zones with one UEFA team and four with two.

Of the 48 participants in the group stage, 32 will go to the direct elimination matches (the first 12, the 12 seconds and the 8 best third parties), and those matches have already been pre-established. There will be eight matches of first against third (all those selected who advance as best third will play with a zone winner), four matches of first against seconds and another four matches of seconds against seconds.

Mexico, Canada and the United States already know that if they win their groups (A, B and D, respectively), they will face a third party, while Mexicans and Canadians will face each other in the round of 16 if they both finish second.

Another pre-established situation will be the group position in which the drawn teams will appear, something key to knowing the order of the matches. For example, the Group A It will be formed like this:

That is, Mexico will debut against Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or South Africa. The only possibility that will not occur is Panama, because it shares a confederation with the Aztec team.

The same order was drawn for the United States, while, in the case of Canada, its debut will be against a country from Pot 4, followed by Pot 3 and closing its group stage against a team from Pot 2.

Bomb 1:

Bomb 2:

Bomb 3:

Bomb 4: