These were the 12 groups of the 2026 World Cup: When and against whom will your team debut in the first phase?

The FIFA President watches the game plan on the screen. — caption, FIFA has presented the schedule for the first round of the 2026 World Cup.

- Author, Drafting
- Author title, BBC News World
December 5, 2025

Updated December 6, 2025

The 2026 World Cup pots have already distributed luck among the 48 participating teams: 42 have already been ranked and the other six places still have to be defined in the playoffs.

The draw, which took place on Friday in Washington DC, determined the composition of the 12 World Cup groups with the most teams in history.

And this Saturday, FIFA presented the tournament calendar with the dates, times and venues of the first round matches, as well as the semi-finals and the final, which will be played on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, very close to New York City.

This is what the World Cup table looks like.

It’s been a long draw ceremony, but we finally know the 12 groups.

The first World Cup with 48 teams will feature some duels in the group stage that should not be missed, such as Spain against Uruguay, Colombia against Portugal or England against Croatia.
Mexico vs. South Africa will be the opening match on June 11 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
Four European rivals who will emerge from the UEFA playoffs have yet to be announced, including Italy, Denmark, Poland and Sweden. And Bolivia also hopes to qualify for the FIFA playoffs.
Due to the lack of play-off games, there is no clear “group of death” at the 2026 World Cup.
The eight Latin American teams will have strong rivals, but not invincible. Read analysis from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Ronaldo presenting the 2026 World Cup schedule — caption, The former captain of the Brazilian team, Ronaldo, was present at the presentation of the game plan.

The first games

In a ceremony in Washington this Saturday, FIFA announced the schedule of 72 matches of the first round, which will begin on June 11 with the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

That day at 1:00 p.m. (locally), the Mexican venue will be the first to host three editions in the history of the World Cup (1970, 1986, 2026).

According to the schedule announced by the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, Paraguay will be the second Latin American team to take the field. This will happen on June 12 in Los Angeles, where they will face the US team, one of the three hosts.

Brazil will play its first game against Morocco on June 13 in New Jersey. On the same day, Haiti meets Scotland in Boston (USA).

The next day it is Ecuador’s turn and meets Ivory Coast in Philadelphia (USA).

Uruguay and Spain play their first games on June 15 against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde respectively. “Los Charrúas” will do so in Miami (USA), while the Iberian team will debut in Atlanta.

The first game of the current world champion Argentina will take place on June 16th against Algeria in Kansas City (USA).

Colombia and Panama will be the last Latin American teams to take the field on June 17th. The Colombians will face Uzbekistan in Mexico City and the Central Americans will face Ghana in Toronto, Canada.

The remaining matches of the first round, which ends on June 27, are available on the official FIFA website.

On July 18, a day before the final, the third place match of the tournament will be played in the city of Miami, it was said at the event, which was attended by football stars such as the Brazilian Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, better known as Ronaldo; the Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov and the Italian Francesco Totti.

No “group of death”

The World Cup draw left a relatively balanced picture, without the classic “group of death”.

For Latin America and Spain, the crossroads offers some duels at the highest level as well as unprecedented confrontations that will shape the course of the championship.

Mexico, one of the hosts, will lead Group A with the pressure of playing the opening game (against South Africa) despite having the advantage of playing in front of their fans at the Azteca Stadium.

The rest of the group is completed by South Korea and the winner of a European play-off between Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

The host USA also faces Paraguay, Australia and the secret of another UEFA play-off in Group D, while Canada faces a similar scenario in Group B along with Qatar, Switzerland and another play-off team that could be Italy.

Among Latin American teams, the draw showed a relatively easy route for Brazil into Group C, whose only seemingly strong rival is Morocco. Haiti and Scotland complete the group.

Reigning champions Argentina found themselves in a Group J where, a priori, there shouldn’t be many complications: Algeria, Austria and Jordan.

Colombia will face a more complex debut in Group K against Portugal. The group concludes with Uzbekistan and a team that qualifies for the FIFA play-offs (New Caledonia, Jamaica or the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Ecuador, on the other hand, will have to contend with the ever-frightening Germany and must do their best to beat Ivory Coast and Curaçao, the Cinderella of the group.

Uruguay met Spain in Group H, which will initially be the strongest duel of the group stage.

The Spanish team comes in as favorites, while Uruguay, like at every World Cup, is aiming for everything. Tiny Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia complete the group.