FIFA officially announced the 2026 World Cup draw time: Where and when?

On October 15, FIFA officially announced and confirmed the time of the draw for the 2026 World Cup final round at 11:00 p.m. (Vietnam time) on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (USA).

How many teams have been determined for the 2026 World Cup?

As of October 15, a total of 28/48 teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, including the three co-host teams of the US, Mexico and Canada, and 25 teams that have passed the qualifying round.

List of 28/48 teams that have qualified for the 2026 World Cup Finals

Photo: Screenshot Football Rankings/X

In which, the Asian region (8 teams) is Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Korea, Jordan, Australia and Qatar with Saudi Arabia being the 2 newest teams after the fourth qualifying round.

The six teams from South America are Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay and Paraguay; one team from Oceania is New Zealand; and nine teams from Africa are Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Meanwhile, England became the first team from Europe to qualify for the finals.

In the upcoming schedule, 3 more places in the CONCACAF region and 15 places in the European region (including 11 main places in the remaining groups and 4 play-off places), along with 2 places in the intercontinental play-off round taking place in March 2026, will be determined.

The 2026 World Cup will increase to 48 teams for the first time, and will also see three teams participating in the finals for the first time in history, namely Jordan and Uzbekistan (Asia) and Cape Verde (Africa) as of October 15.

After the upcoming FIFA Days in November, which will determine 90% of the teams participating in the finals, with only the European and intercontinental play-off spots remaining, FIFA will also conduct the 2026 World Cup group draw.

Of which, 3 co-host teams have been fixed, including the US team in Group D with code D1. The Mexican team will play the opening match at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, fixed in Group A and code A1. The remaining co-host team is Canada in Group B and code B1.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino officially announced and confirmed the time of the draw for the 2026 World Cup finals.

Photo: Gianni Infantino/instagram

With 48 teams participating in the 2026 World Cup, FIFA will conduct a draw to divide the teams into 12 groups of 4 teams each. After the group stage, the 2 top teams in each group and the 8 best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 32. The teams will be paired off to play in the round of 16, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The 2026 World Cup will take place from June 11, 2026, to July 19, 2026. The opening match will be held at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium, and the final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey.

This will be the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, up from 32 in previous editions. The expansion means there will be more matches - a total of 104 matches will be played, up from 64 in 2022 in Qatar.

A total of 16 cities from the three co-host countries will host matches at the 2026 World Cup. Canada has two cities, Toronto and Vancouver; Mexico has three cities, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. The US has participating cities including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle.

According to the announced schedule, most of the matches at the 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, especially from the quarterfinals onwards, with matches taking place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The semi-finals will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The 2026 World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on July 19, 2026, followed by the third-place match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on July 19, 2026.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-chinh-thuc-cong-bo-thoi-gian-boc-tham-world-cup-2026-o-dau-khi-nao-185251015082222998.htm