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≡ 2026 FINAL DRAW ≡
The FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw took place Friday at the Kennedy Center in a snowy Washington, D.C., with about 2,000 people watching a series of live performances and videos that finally led to the distribution of the teams into groups for the tournament that will begin next June (with current FIFA World Ranking).
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) came on for a third time at the 45-minute mark and introduced a surprise group of draw assistants in U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, to make the first selections.
Canada was selected to be in Group B, then Sheinbaum picked Mexico, assigned to Group A and then Trump for the U.S., in Group A. The rest of the selections followed another musical interlude but finally got started 87 minutes into the show and included (with current FIFA World Ranking):
● Group A:
15. Mexico ~ host
22. South Korea
61. South Africa
European Play-Off D winner
● Group B:
27. Canada ~ host
17 Switzerland
51. Qatar
European Play-Off A winner
● Group C:
5. Brazil
11. Morocco
36. Scotland
84. Haiti
● Group D:
14. United States ~ host
26. Australia
39. Paraguay
European Play-Off C winner
● Group E:
9. Germany
23. Ecuador
42. Cote d’Ivoire
82. Curacao
● Group F:
7. Netherlands
18. Japan
40. Tunisia
European Play-Off B winner
● Group G:
8. Belgium
20. Iran
34. Egypt
86. New Zealand
● Group H:
1. Spain
16.Uruguay
60. Saudi Arabia
68. Capo Verde
● Group I:
3. France
19. Senegal
29. Norway
FIFA Play-Off 2 winner
● Group J:
2. Argentina
24. Austria
35. Algeria
66. Jordan
● Group K:
6. Portugal
13. Colombia
50. Uzbekistan
FIFA Play-Off 1 winner
● Group L:
4. England
10. Croatia
30. Panama
72. Ghana
The assignments of matches to venues and starting times will be announced in another program, coming Saturday at noon Eastern time. Mexico will meet South Africa in the opener in Mexico City on 11 June and the U.S. will meet Paraguay – which it defeated by 2-1 in November – in Inglewood, California on 12 June.
A half-hour into the program, the first FIFA Peace Prize was awarded, as expected, to U.S. President Trump, citing his work in international conflicts, in an administration “marked by actions to pursue peace around the world.”
A massive trophy was awarded, along with a medal which Infantino presented to Trump on stage. Trump put the medal on himself and Infantino read the award certificate. Trump gave short remarks, focused mostly on his efforts to try and settle international difficulties.
The show was hosted by Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart, with interviews by Danny Sanchez with former English star Rio Ferdinand and Samantha Johnson (GBR) hosting the actual draw. The show finished with the Village People singing their 1978 hit, “YMCA”
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