World Cup 2026 draw: New FIFA seeding and pot system explained ahead of 48-team tournament

FIFA has introduced a new system for the 2026 World Cup knockout stages that will see the top four seeded teams avoid each other until at least the semi-finals of next summer's 48-team tournament.

In a tennis-style, similar to the one adopted by FIFA during last summer's Club World Cup, the top two teams in the current FIFA rankings - Spain (1) and Argentina (2) - will be on opposite draw pathways, as will the third and fourth-ranked sides, France and England, to ensure competitive balance.

As a result, the four nations will be placed in different quadrants of the knockout phase and will be separated into pots. Therefore, England will avoid European champions Spain and world champions Argentina until a potential semi-final.

While France, who beat the Three Lions in the World Cup quarter-finals in 2022, are unable to meet Thomas Tuchel's side until the final.

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How do the pots work?

Among the top seeds, England are in pot 1, while Scotland are in pot 3. That means England and Scotland could be drawn together in the group stage.

However, as a maximum of two European teams can be placed in each group, if England draw a European opponent from pot 2, Scotland will not be drawn with England.

Play-off hopefuls Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales are in pot 4 (see European Play-Off A, B, C below), with Northern Ireland and Wales battling for one spot in play-off path A.

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2

What does this mean for the World Cup draw?

The draw for the finals will take place in Washington, DC, on December 5, starting at 5pm UK time.

US President Donald Trump will join FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the John F Kennedy Center - a performing arts venue where Trump is chairman - to decide the group stage fixtures. The draw will take between 45-50 minutes with a total show time expected of about 1 hour 20 mins.

It will begin with all the teams from pot 1 being drawn to groups A to L. It will then continue with pots 2, 3 and 4 in that order.

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For pots 2, 3 and 4, each team's group position will be determined according to a predefined allocation pattern. A team's position within the group will then be determined by the pot from which they are drawn and by the group into which they are drawn.

In principle, no group will have more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it. This applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it.

For the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders, in order to comply with FIFA's general principle to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it, the confederation constraint will be applied to all three teams within each pathway of the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders in pot 4.

Pathway 1 of the inter-confederation play-off spots, which includes New Caledonia, Jamaica and DR Congo cannot be drawn into a group with Concacaf or African teams. While pathway 2, consisting of Bolivia, Suriname and Iraq, must avoid South America, Concacaf and Asia.

Announcing the draw venue at the White House in August, Trump said the World Cup was "the biggest event in sports", while Infantino declared the 104 matches would be like "104 Super Bowls".

Who has qualified already for World Cup?

Forty-two teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup so far, with a list below:

World Cup 2026 match schedule

The full fixture list with group games and kick-off times will be available after the draw, but FIFA has already announced key dates and confirmed that the opening match will be held in Mexico City.

While the Final Draw will determine which teams play each other in the group stage, the updated match schedule, including the stadium assigned to each match and the respective kick-off time, will be confirmed on Saturday, 6 December.

The final will take place at the New York-New Jersey (MetLife) Stadium - home of the New York Giants and New York Jets.

Group stage: June 11-27

Round of 32: June 28 to July 3

Round of 16: July 4-7

Quarter-finals: July 9-11

Semi-finals: July 14-15

Third-place play-off ('Bronze final'): July 18

Final: July 19

(c) Sky Sports 2025: World Cup 2026 draw: New FIFA seeding and pot system explained ahead of 48-team tournament