So it’s official. About ten days before the draw for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place on December 5 in Washington, Fifa has confirmed the procedure for this highly anticipated event.
Firstly, the international body confirmed the composition of the four hats (see below). The qualified nations are distributed according to the Fifa ranking (and not geographically), with two small subtleties. The three host countries are in pot 1, and the six play-off winners (whose identity will not be known until March) will automatically be placed in the fourth pot, regardless of their Fifa ranking.
The draw will begin with hat 1, where the balls from Mexico, Canada and the United States will be of different colors in order to distinguish them. These three countries will be automatically placed in groups A, B and D. We will then continue with hats 2, 3 and 4.
Two important points: there cannot be more than two nations from the same continent in a group, with the exception of Europe, where the maximum quota will be two nations maximum per group. There cannot be a group without a European nation, Fifa also specifies. A Canada-Colombia-Algeria-Jordan pool, for example, is therefore impossible.
The Blues and England not in the same part of the table?
All this was quite expected. The little novelty, however, concerns the final table (and in particular the French team). Here is what FIFA announced: “In order to ensure competitive balance, two separate tables towards the semi-finals were established when designing the match schedule. For a balanced distribution, the following constraints will apply to the four best-placed teams in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Rankings: the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second-highest ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly assigned opposite tables; the same principle will apply to the third (France) and the fourth (England). » All this is only valid if the teams in question finish well at the top of their group.
Hat 1: Canada, Mexico, United States, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Hat 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, RI Iran, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Hat 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, winners of European play-offs A, B, C and D, winners of FIFA Play-off Tournament 1 and 2
