FIFA announces seeds, prioritizing 4 teams: When will the 2026 World Cup draw be held?

On November 26, FIFA officially announced the 4 seeding groups and the draw method for the 2026 World Cup finals, with the draw taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (USA) on December 5.

FIFA prioritizes top 4 teams at 2026 World Cup, without Ronaldo's Portugal

Accordingly, there are currently 42 teams officially present at the 2026 World Cup, with only 6 teams left to be determined after the European and intercontinental play-offs in March 2026.

The teams are divided into four seeding pots based on their positions in the recent FIFA rankings in November, with the three co-host teams, the US, Mexico and Canada, being given priority in the top seed pot.

The specific seed groups are as follows:

Group 1: USA, Mexico, Canada (co-hosts), followed by Spain in 1st place, Argentina in 2nd place, France and England in 3rd and 4th place respectively, followed by Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and 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, European play-off group A, European play-off group B, European play-off group C, European play-off group D, Intercontinental play-off group 1 and Intercontinental play-off group 2.

FIFA identifies 4 seed groups before the 2026 World Cup draw - Photo: FIFA.com

From the four seeding groups, the teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four teams each. Of these, three co-host teams have been fixed, including the US in Group D with the code D1. Mexico, which will play the opening match at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, is fixed in Group A and code A1. The remaining co-host team, Canada, is in Group B and code B1.

Each group will have one team from each seeding pot. The play-off teams will be seeded in Pot 4. Each group cannot have more than one team from the same confederation, except for UEFA (Europe), which has 16 teams. But each group can only have a maximum of 2 teams from UEFA.

FIFA also decided that the teams ranked first and second in their FIFA rankings (Spain and Argentina) would be placed in opposite sides of the group if they reached the round of 16 as group winners. That way, they would not meet before the final. The same would be true for the teams ranked third and fourth (namely France and England).

The knockout round bracket of the 2026 World Cup was announced by FIFA - Photo: FIFA.com

But in the event that the top teams do not finish first in the group stage but still make it to the knockout stage, their right to defend their ranking will be revoked. Matches between any two nations can only take place from the semi-finals onwards in the "tennis" bracket format.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo's Portugal team did not receive this priority because it ranked 6th in the FIFA rankings for November.

Ronaldo was also given a very light punishment by FIFA for the red card he received in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe, when he was actually only banned for 1 match (already served), while the remaining 2 matches were only "suspended" for 1 year. This means that Ronaldo will fully participate in the 2026 World Cup group stage matches in June next year if he competes. He will only be activated for the current 2-match suspension if he commits violent acts or receives a red card in the near future.

How will the 2026 World Cup be played?

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 top 2 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 quarterfinals, 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.

The 2026 World Cup will take place in 16 cities of three co-host countries - Photo: FIFA.com

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 take place in the United States, especially from the quarter-finals with matches taking place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, SoFi in Inglewood, Hard Rock in Miami Gardens and Arrowhead in Kansas City.

The semifinals will be held 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 a day earlier by the third-place match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-cong-bo-hat-giong-uu-tien-4-doi-tuyen-boc-tham-world-cup-2026-khi-nao-185251126090950252.htm