The draw for the 2026 World Cup groups

Romania did not qualify for the World Championship, and the only chance to reach the final tournament is through the European play-off. In the first match, the national team will play away against Turkey, and in case of a victory, the final will also take place away, with the winner between Slovakia and Kosovo.

• The 2026 World Championship will be held in 3 countries: USA, Mexico and Canada. It will take place between June 11 and July 19. It will be the first tournament in history with 48 teams;

• The World Championship will debut in an expanded format, with 48 teams, the participants being divided into 12 groups of four. From each group, the top two teams, as well as the best eight third-placed teams, will advance, thus forming the 32-team knockout phase;

• The tournament will feature a total of 104 matches over 38 days, making it the longest World Cup in history.

Live from 19:00 » 2026 World Cup group draw

Hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States of America enter Pot 1, with all other teams assigned according to FIFA rankings. The exceptions are the 6 national ones that will qualify through the playoffs, 4 from Europe and two from the intercontinental play-off. All of these are automatically included in urn 4.

Following the draw, 12 groups of 4 teams will be formed. Each confederation will have only one representative in each series, minus UEFA, which will have 16 national teams in the final tournament, i.e. a third of the participating teams. There will be a maximum of two European national teams in a group.

FIFA also modified the draw model to model tennis tournaments. The top 4 teams in the FIFA rankings, Spain, Argentina, France and England will be on different boards. Thus, if Spain and Argentina win their groups, they will only be able to meet in the grand final.

Urn 1:

• Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium + the three hosts: Mexico, Canada, USA

Urn 2:

• Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Urn 3:

• Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Urn 4:

• Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-off A, European Play-off B, European Play-off C (possibly Romania), European Play-off D, FIFA 1 Play-off, FIFA 2 Play-off