The football planet will begin to shake in preparation for the 2026 World Cup, which will seat 48 participants for the first time in history. The group stage draw will allow you to start “playing” with the relevant odds Argentine national teamWho will seek to defend the title he won in Qatar 2022. And it will be Lionel Scaloni’s team as well One of the twelve seedsincluding the three hosts Canada, Mexico and USA.
The event will take place on December 5 starting at 2:00 PM. (Argentine time), at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., United States.
There are 12 teams in each pot, according to FIFA rankings. In Pot 1 are teams from the three host nations (Canada, Mexico and the United States) and the nine best-seeded teams, including the Argentine national team. There are six teams from Pot 4 that will be known in the March 2026 playoffs.
There will be 16 European teams competing for four places. Six teams from Confederation of South America, CONCACAF, Asia and Africa will participate in the international qualifiers.
It has already been decided that the three host nations Canada, Mexico and the United States will be placed in Groups A, B and D respectively. Then the other ranked teams will be divided into the rest of the regions.
FIFA explained: “Once the teams from Pot 1 are distributed into their groups, the draw will continue with the teams from Pot 2, 3 and 4 in that order. Each pot will be completely emptied before moving on to the next. The draw will conclude once all teams from Pot 4 are placed in a group.”
basic. FIFA will ensure, as far as possible, that no group includes more than one team from the same association, with the only exception being UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. For this reason, four of the twelve groups will include two Europeans.
In addition, Lionel Scaloni’s team already knows key details in their quest to retain the Qatar 2022 title. FIFA has decided for the first time that the top four in the classification cannot face each other until the decisive stages. So, Spain, Argentina, France and England, as long as they are in first place in their group, will only face each other in the semi-finals..
The opening match will be with the Mexican national team, the protagonist June 11while The final will be on July 19th In New Jersey, which is home to the amazing 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium.
The tournament will feature 48 teams, divided into 12 groups of four members each. The Round of 16 will be added, with the top two teams in each region qualifying, and the eight best third-place teams qualifying for it.