World Cup 2026 draw today: Group of death likely to appear

(Dan Tri) - At 0:00 on December 6, FIFA will hold the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington DC (USA). The lucky draws can create groups of death.

* Dan Tri will report live on the 2026 World Cup draw and bring the fastest news about this event to readers.

The 2026 World Cup will be the biggest tournament ever in football. This is the first World Cup to see 48 teams participating and have 3 host countries: the US, Canada and Mexico.

The 2026 World Cup draw will take place at midnight tonight (Photo: Getty).

Up to this point, 42 teams have been identified including:

CONCACAF (6 teams): USA, Mexico, Canada (host), Haiti, Curacao, Panama.

Asia (8 teams): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar.

South America (6 teams): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay.

Europe (12 teams): England, France, Croatia, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, Spain, Austria, Belgium.

Oceania (1 team): New Zealand.

Africa (9 teams): Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Ghana.

In addition, the remaining 6 places will be determined through the play-off round taking place in March next year. Specifically, 16 European teams will participate in the play-off round to choose 4 places. Including 12 second-placed teams: Slovakia, Kosovo, Denmark, Ukraine, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Bosnia, Italy, Wales, Albania and Czech Republic. In addition, there are 4 teams participating through the UEFA Nations League: North Macedonia, Sweden, Romania and Northern Ireland.

Seed groups at the 2026 World Cup (Photo: FIFA).

The remaining 6 teams are Iraq (Asia), Democratic Republic of Congo (Africa), Jamaica, Suriname (CONCACAF), Bolivia (South America), New Caledonia (Oceania) will compete to determine 2 spots to attend the 2026 World Cup.

FIFA has announced the seeding groups in the 2026 World Cup group stage draw. Accordingly, pot 1 will include 3 host teams along with 9 teams with the best results on the FIFA rankings. Pots 2, 3 and 4 will be determined based on the remaining FIFA rankings. The seeding groups include:

Group 1: Canada, USA, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, France, UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium, Germany

Group 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Group 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand and 6 teams participating through the play-off round.

Principles of drawing lots

FIFA will draw pots 1 to 4 in order. The 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four teams each. As usual, two teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn together, except in UEFA, where each group is allowed to have a maximum of two European teams. This rule is to ensure continental diversity in each group, while maintaining competitiveness and balance between teams.

Hosts Mexico are placed in Group A and will play the opening match of the 2026 World Cup at the Azteca Stadium on June 11, 2026. Canada is placed in Group B, while the United States is in Group D.

In addition, FIFA will apply new rules to ensure the championship race is competitive. Accordingly, the two teams with the highest rankings on the FIFA rankings, Spain and Argentina, will be in two different branches. If they win the top spot, they will only meet in the final of the tournament. Similarly, the teams ranked 3rd (France) and 4th (England) are also in two different branches.

Argentina is the reigning World Cup champion (Photo: Getty).

The Death List is likely to appear.

According to FIFA's seeding system, the group of death is very likely to appear. Many strong teams but have to participate in the play-off round such as Italy, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Türkiye will automatically be in the 4th seed group if they pass the qualifying round.

These opponents will bring a great challenge to the teams. Similarly, the second seed group has strong teams such as Croatia, Uruguay, Colombia, Morocco, the third seed group includes Norway, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Scotland… are also quite strong opponents.

A group of death consisting of Brazil, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Italy (if they qualify) will certainly attract a lot of attention. Similarly, a group with the appearance of Spain, Uruguay, Norway, Ghana promises to bring fierce competition.

The 2026 World Cup will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hom-nay-boc-tham-world-cup-2026-bang-tu-than-de-xuat-hien-20251205101436047.htm