On November 26, FIFA officially announced 4 seed groups and the draw method for the 2026 World Cup finals. The draw will be held on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C (USA).
Accordingly, there are 42 teams that have officially qualified for the 2026 World Cup. The remaining 6 spots will be determined after the European and Intercontinental play-offs taking place in March 2026.
The teams are divided into 4 seed groups based on FIFA rankings last November, in which the three co-host teams, the US, Mexico and Canada, were given priority to be ranked in the No. 1 seed group.
From 4 seed groups, the teams will be drawn into 12 groups, each group consisting of 4 teams. Of which, the 3 co- host teams have been determined by FIFA: The US is in Group D with the code D1, Mexico is in Group A with the code A1 and is also the team competing in the opening match at Azteca Stadium (Mexico City), while Canada is in Group B with the code B1.
Each group will have a team from each seed group. The teams that qualify for the World Cup through the play-off round will be included in the No. 4 seed group.
The draw rules also stipulate that each group cannot have more than one team from the same federation, except for UEFA because the European region has up to 16 representatives. However, each group is only allowed to have a maximum of 2 UEFA teams.
FIFA also confirmed that the two teams at the top of the FIFA rankings, Spain and Argentina, will be divided into two opposite branches in the knockout round, in case they enter the round of 16 as group winners. This is to ensure that the two teams will not face each other before the final match. The same rule applies to the third and fourth-placed teams in the FIFA rankings, France and England.
However, if the top teams do not win the top spot in the group stage but still advance to the knockout round, their priority to defend their rankings will no longer be valid. In this case, matches between these countries can only take place from the semi-finals in the "ten volleyball" format.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal are not entitled to this priority because they are ranked 6th on the FIFA rankings in November.
Seed groups at the 2026 World Cup:
Group 1: US, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Argentina, France, UK, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Group 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Group 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Group 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European play-off team group A, European play-off team group B, European play-off team group C, European play-off team group D, Intercontinental play-off team 1 and Intercontinental play-off team 2
