FIFA World Cup Draw Highlights: All Four Pots Drawn – See Final Groups, Matchups, And More

Hello, football fans! This is the start of our live blog covering tonight’s FIFA World Cup 2026 draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. A never-before-seen pool of 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four. Stay tuned for live updates and reactions from the mega event.

In India, the draw will start at 10:30 PM IST.

Being a FIFA-organised event, the World Cup draw will be live-streamed on the FIFA+ app and website for free globally. However, there will be no television broadcast of the games in India.

42 teams have already sealed qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Those teams are:

• UEFA: England, France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Scotland

• CONMEBOL: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay

• CAF: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal

• AFC: Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

• OFC: New Zealand

• CONCACAF: Canada (Host), Mexico (Host), United States (Host), Panama, Haiti, Curacao

Tonight's FIFA World Cup draw will have three hosts – comedian-actor Kevin Hart, supermodel Heidi Klum, and actor Danny Ramirez. Know all about the hosts and the guest performances scheduled for tonight.

Tonight's FIFA World Cup draw will be conducted by former England captain Rio Ferdinand along with sports broadcaster Samantha Johnson.

Also present and assisting will be several American athletes, including NFL star Tom Brady, Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, and baseball player Aaron Judge.

As was expected, the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize has been awarded to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. The new and shiny award looks quite the handful, and it has been handed over to Trump by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, for brokering ceasefire agreements around the world.

Gianni Infantino announced that FIFA is switching up the draw format. The FIFA President announced the three draw assistants – USA President Trump, Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum. This the first time that state heads will conduct the World Cup draw.

You can't make this up, really. The Canadian, Mexican, and American state of heads draw their own respective countries from the pile. What are the chances of that?! So, Mexico is in Group A, Canada in Group B, and USA in Group D.

After an interview with Mexican legend Hugo Sanchez, we cut away for a live performance from rapper Lauryn Hill, who is performing with her son John Nesta Marley. The performance is a tribute to the late Bob Marley. A nice touch to pay homage to the Reggae legend, whose love for football was well-known.

After what seemed like an eternity of musical interludes, video montages, and interviews, the draw *finally* begins. Former England captains Rio Ferdinand is out. He comes out and says, "We gotta stop calling it soccer." The best moment of the event so far. Samantha Johnson is the co-conducter of the draw.

The Pot 1 teams have been drawn by Tom Brady. The results are: Brazil (C1), Germany (E1), Netherlands (F1), Belgium (G1), Spain (H1), Argentina (J1), France (I1), Portugal (K1), and England (L1).

The Pot 2 teams have been drawn by Shaquille O'Neal. The results are Korea Republic (A3), Switzerland (B4), Morocco (C2), Australia (D3), Ecuador (E4), Japan (F2), Iran (G3), Uruguay (H4), Senegal (I2), Austria (J3), Colombia (K4), Croatia (L2).

This is what the groups look like now:

• Group A: Mexico, South Korea

• Group B: Canada, Switzerland

• Group C: Brazil, Morocco

• Group D: USA, Australia

• Group E: Germany, Ecuador

• Group F: Netherlands, Japan

• Group G: Belgium, Iran

• Group H: Spain, Uruguay

• Group I: France, Senegal

• Group J: Argentina, Austria

• Group K: Portugal, Colombia

• Group L: England, Croatia

After some controversy, the Iranian delegation did attent tonight's draw. The IR Iran team have been drawn in Group G, and they will face Belgium in their opening match.

Aaron Judge completes the draw for the Pot 3 teams. The results are: South Africa (A2), Qatar (B3), Paraguay (D2), Cote D'Ivoire (E3), Tunisia (F4), Egypt (G2), Scotland (C4), Saudi Arabia (H3), Algeria (J2), Uzbekistan (K3), Panama (L4), Norway (I4).

South Africa's match against Mexico in Mexico City will be the first match of the tournament. Argentina will begin their title defence against Algeria.

This is what the groups look like now:

• Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea

• Group B: Canada, Qatar, Switzerland

• Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland

• Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia

• Group E: Germany, Ivory Coast, Ecuador

• Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia

• Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran

• Group H: Spain, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

• Group I: France, Senegal, Norway

• Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria

• Group K: Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia

• Group L: England, Croatia, Panama

The Pot 4 teams have been drawn by Wayne Gretzky. The results are: Winner of Play-off D (Denmark/North Macedonia/Czechia/Republic of Ireland) (A4), Winner of Play-off A (Italy/Northern Ireland/Wales/Bosnia & Herzegovina) (B2), Haiti (C3), Curacao (E2), Play-off 2 (Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname) (I3), Cabo Verde (H2), Winner of Play-off C (Türkiye/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo) (D4), Winner of Play-off B (Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania) (F3), Jordan (J4), Winner of Play-off 1 (Congo DR/Jamaica/New Caledonia) (K2), Ghana (L3), New Zealand (G4).

This is what the groups look like now:

• Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Play-off D Winner

• Group B: Canada, Play-off A Winner, Qatar, Switzerland

• Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland

• Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Play-off C Winner

• Group E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador

• Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Play-off B Winner, Tunisia

• Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand

• Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

• Group I: France, Senegal, Play-off 2 Winner, Norway

• Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan

• Group K: Portugal, Play-off 1 Winner, Uzbekistan, Colombia

• Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama

At first glance, two tough groups stand out, with Group C having both five-time champions Brazil and Africa's highest-ranked team Morocco. Scotland will also complicate things. Group I is even tougher, probably the "Group of Death" of 2026, featuring France, Norway, and Senegal. Oof.

With the draw out of the way, musical group Village People perform their iconic "Y.M.C.A." song to bring the event to an end. Trump, who famously loves this song, is visibly happy. That's that from us as well, thank you for sticking with us as we brought you the live updates from the FIFA World Cup draw.