Today, Brazil meets its rivals for the 2026 World Cup. The group stage draw will take place on Friday, December 5, starting at 2 pm (Brasilia time), at the Kennedy Center in Washington, United States, and will also determine the teams’ paths to the grand final. The ceremony will be broadcast on TV Globo, SporTV, CazéTV, GE TV and FIFA+. With 42 of the 48 teams qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, the teams were divided according to entity classification and Brazil thus ensured themselves in Pot 1 and would be seeded in the competition. The nine highest-ranked teams along with host country Canada, Mexico and the United States formed Pot 1. The next 12 highest-ranked teams were allocated to Pot 2, followed by the next 12 teams in Pot 3. Pot 4 would include the next six highest-ranked teams, plus the six that would qualify through the playoffs. There will be a limit of two European teams in each group. In each pot, the highest-ranked teams will be placed in opposite brackets in the draw, and the same applies to the third and fourth-ranked teams. For example, Spain and Argentina will be on opposite sides and the two will only be able to face each other in a potential final, if they win their groups. How will the World Cup draw be conducted? The four pots representing the teams will be designated as pots 1 through 4. Each pot will contain 12 balls with the name of each seeded team. The draw will begin with the three host countries, with the green ball representing Mexico being drawn first. Mexico will be placed in Group A as A1. Then the red ball representing Canada will be drawn and placed in Pool B as B1. After that, the blue ball representing the USA will be drawn and placed in pool D as D1. After the three home teams have been drawn, the draw will continue with the remaining nine teams from Pot 1. After all teams from Pot 1 have been allocated to their respective groups, the draw will continue with the teams from Pot 2, 3 and 4, in that order, with each pot completely empty before moving on to the next. The drawing will be completed when all picks from Pot 4 have been allocated to a pool. Check out the 2026 World Cup Draw Pots Pot 1 USA Mexico Canada Spain Argentina France England Brazil Portugal Netherlands Belgium Germany Pot 2 Croatia Morocco Colombia Uruguay Switzerland Japan Senegal Iran South Korea Ecuador Austria Australia Pot 3 Norway Panama Egypt Algeria Scotland Paraguay Tunisia Ivory Coast Uzbekistan Qatar Saudi Arabia South Africa Pot 4 Jordan Cape Verde Ghana Curacao Haiti New Zealand UEFA Qualifiers 1 (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia) UEFA 2 (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland or Albania) UEFA Play-off 3 (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo) UEFA Play-off 4 (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic or Ireland) UEFA Play-off 1 (New Caledonia, Jamaica or Congo) UEFA Play-off 2 (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname)