Six months remain until the 2026 World Cup officially kicks off in Mexico City on June 11 but the excitement is already ramping up and in under a weeks' time all 12 groups will be set.
Forty-two nations have already punched their tickets to the tournament across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and they'll learn their group-stage paths on Dec. 11 when FIFA holds the official draw. The final six spots will be decided in March through UEFA and interconfederation playoffs, completing the expanded 48-team field.
This year's draw comes with a twist: FIFA have announced a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket which will mean the highest ranking teams -- Spain, Argentina, France and England -- will find themselves in separate sections of the bracket and are likely to only face each other at the latter stages of the tournament.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup draw.
When and where is the draw:
Date: Friday, Dec. 5, at 5 p.m. GMT (12 p.m. ET; 10.30 p.m. IST, and 4 a.m. AEDT, Saturday)
Venue: Kennedy Centre, Washington , D.C.
How to watch:
The draw will be telecast live on BBC and BBC iPlayer in the U.K. Fox and Fubo will show the draw in the U.S., SBS and SBS On Demand will broadcast the draw in Australia and it will also be shown live on FIFA.com and FIFA's YouTube channel globally.
You can also follow ESPN's live stream.
How does the draw actually work?
The 48 teams or placeholders will be divided into four pots of 12 teams, using the FIFA World Rankings list published Nov. 19. Each World Cup group will consist of one team from each pot.
The hosts -- United States, Canada and Mexico -- will be placed in Pot 1, as always, and have already been assigned to specific groups. The top nine countries will join the three hosts in Pot 1, with the next 12 in Pot 2, and so on.
Teams in the same pot cannot face each other in the group stage.
The draw will start with Pot 1, though hosts United States, Mexico and Canada have been already allocated to groups and know the dates and locations of their group stage matches.
Each of the hosts will be assigned to its preestablished group position, then the rest of Pot 1 will be allocated before the same process is done for each group alphabetically. The same process is then completed for Pots 2, 3 and 4. Each pot will be drawn in its entirety before moving on to the next pot.
For the first time in World Cup history, the four highest-seeded countries will not be able to face each other until the semifinals, assuming all four win their groups.
So Spain, Argentina, France and England are all randomly assigned to opposite pathways to the semifinals.
Who has qualified and who is in which pot?
Latest news and analysis:
World Cup ticket sales for exact matchups to start Dec. 11
FIFA announced on Wednesday that the third phase of 2026 World Cup tickets sales will begin on Dec. 11, making this round the first chance for buyers to bid on single-match tickets based on exact matchup.
FIFA alters World Cup draw format so top sides won't meet early
The 2026 World Cup draw will reward the four highest-ranked teams -- Spain, Argentina, France and England -- which will be placed in separate sections of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.
England's 2026 World Cup draw: What's the easiest (and toughest) group they can get?
Who can England draw ... and what are the best and worst-case scenarios on paper?
Why England are unlikely to face France until final - and are on course for Lionel Messi
England will enter next week's 2026 World Cup draw with a rare strategic advantage -- and the respite of knowing meetings with Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal may have to wait.
2026 World Cup: Who has qualified, and how the rest can make it
All confederations' competitions are drawing to a close, but we're still a long way from discovering the full list of nations that will make up the field of 48 next summer.