A TOTAL of 48 nations will take part in the 2026 World Cup.
Canada, USA and Mexico share hosting duties for the tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 19.
When is the World Cup 2026 draw and when does it start?
The draw takes place on Friday, December 5 at 5pm UK time.
The Kennedy Center in Washington is the venue and President Donald Trump is expected to attend.
How does the World Cup 2026 draw work?
The World Cup has been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for the first time this year.
The 48 countries will be divided into 12 groups of four nations.
CAPE CRUSADERS
I watched World Cup minnows Cape Verde become tournament’s biggest wildcard
LEE YOU OUTSIDE
Prem club call out pundit Lee Dixon for his take on England ace
Each group will contain a team from one of the four pots.
Pot one involves the three host nations and the best nine countries in the Fifa world rankings that have qualified for the World Cup.
Pot two sees the next 12 sides in the rankings, and so on, for pot three and four to ensure groups are fairly balanced.
Countries from the same continent are not allowed to be drawn in a group together – aside from Europe.
But no more than two European teams can share a group.
After each team plays an opponent once in the group (three matches), the top two progress to the last-32 and they will be joined by the eight best third-placed nations.
Beyond the group stage, a path to the final is plotted with a tournament bracket used.
Who has qualified for the World Cup 2026?
Continents have been allocated a certain number of spots at the World Cup.
Two places are then decided by the inter-confederation play-offs games, which sees two from North America, one from Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania battle it out for the final two spots in the tournament.
- Europe: 16
- Africa: 9
- Asia: 8
- South America: 6
- North America: 6 (including the three host nations)
- Oceania: 1
- Inter-confederation play-offs: 2
And the teams that have booked their spot in the World Cup are:
- Canada (co-host)
- Mexico (co-host)
- United States (co-host)
- England
- Australia
- Iran
- Japan
- Jordan (debut)
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Uzbekistan (debut)
- Algeria
- Cape Verde (debut)
- Egypt
- Ghana
- Ivory Coast
- Morocco
- Senegal
- South Africa
- Tunisia
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Paraguay
- Uruguay
- New Zealand
Read the full article here