World Cup 2026: Latin American Teams in the Draw Pots

Image source, Getty Images

photo caption, The 2026 World Cup will be played from June 11 to July 19.

- Author, Writing
- Author’s title, BBC News World
November 25, 2025

Updated 7 hours

This Tuesday, FIFA defined the four national team pots and the rules that will be used in the draw for the 2026 World Cup on December 5 in Washington DC.

So far eight teams from Latin America have already qualified: Mexico, automatically for being a co-host, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay.

One more team from the region, Boliviastill has a chance to earn its place in the inter-confederation playoff to be played next year.

In total, there are 42 teams already confirmed for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada that will be played from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Another six places are pending to be defined in the playoffs.

In a statement, FIFA announced this Tuesday the formation of the four drums of the draw on December 5, from which the 12 groups in which the 48 teams participating in the World Cup will be grouped, as well as rules to avoid crossings of the best-placed teams in the current world classification.

Mexico, as host, was placed in pot 1 and will be the head of the group in which it will be placed directly in the draw. Argentina is also in that hype as it is one of the best classified in the world and current champion.

Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay were placed in Pot 2, also due to their world ranking.

Panama and Paraguay are in pot 3.

And if they win their pass, Bolivia will be included in pot 4, where other Concacaf teams are already present (Haiti and Curacao) and which could also be joined by Jamaica or Suriname.

A table with the four pots for the 2026 World Cup draw

What will the draw be like?

FIFA will carry out the draw on December 5 in Washington DC, beginning with the extraction of pot 1 of the heads of the 12 groups.

Co-hosts Mexico (A1), Canada (B1) and the United States (D1) will have colored balls with their flags to indicate their special status. Their positions in the group will be predetermined, so they will play all their matches in their own countries.

Then the selections that are drawn will go to the first available group in alphabetical order. The draw computer will ensure that four teams – Spain, Argentina, France and England – are in groups that do not meet until the semi-finals or final.

These teams have special treatment as they have the highest current score in the FIFA world ranking.

The remaining selections from pot 2, pot 3 and, finally, pot 4 will then be drawn in the draw.

Unlike previous draws, and to speed up the process, countries will not have to wait for their position in their group to be drawn, which determines the order of the matches to be played.

Instead, the seeded countries will all go to position one, and a predetermined random table will determine the place of the other countries in the group to create the initial match schedule.

Four people carry out the UEFA reclassification draw — photo caption, UEFA will hold a requalification series in March 2026.

The European exception

The rules indicate that no group should have more than one country from the same confederation. Thus, for example, when Colombia is drawn from pot 2, it will not be able to go to a group with Argentina or Brazil.

This applies to all pots, with the exception that four groups will have two European nations, since there are 16 teams from the old continent that must be integrated into 12 groups.

The four tickets to the UEFA World Cup for UEFA teams that have yet to be decided will be contested by 16 teams in their own playoff: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Slovakia, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

On the other hand, two passes to the World Cup will emerge from the playoff between Bolivia, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Suriname.

Although the date and order of matches will be known when the draw is made, venues and kick-off times will not be confirmed until Saturday 6 December.

For the 2026 World Cup, FIFA favored that the four best-ranked countries currently not be able to face each other until the semifinals or final, a lock that is used in other sports but that will be used for the first time in the World Cup.