Friday’s draw was the next step to setting the schedule for the largest World Cup in history.
WASHINGTON — The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw took place Friday in Washington, D.C., setting the stage for which teams will face each other when the tournament kicks off next summer across North America.
The expanded 48-team tournament will be the largest World Cup in history, with matches scheduled across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Here’s everything you need to know.
When is the 2026 World Cup?
The tournament unfolds from June 11 to July 19, 2026. The opening match is scheduled for June 11, 2026, at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, with the final held July 19, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The tournament will be the first World Cup co-hosted by three countries and the first to feature 48 teams, up from the traditional 32-team format used since 1998.
Matches will take place at 16 venues across the three host nations, with 104 total matches scheduled throughout the tournament.
2026 World Cup Schedule
Group stage: June 11–27
Round of 32: June 28–July 3
Round of 16: July 4–7
Quarterfinals: July 9–11
Semifinals: July 14–15
Third-place playoff: July 18
Final: July 19
Which teams have qualified for the World Cup so far?
Forty-two teams have secured their places at the 2026 World Cup, with six spots remaining to be determined through playoff matches in March 2026.
Hosts (3 teams): United States, Canada, Mexico
Europe (12 teams): Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Switzerland
South America (6 teams): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Africa (9 teams): Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia
Asia (8 teams): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea
CONCACAF (3 teams): Panama, Curacao, Haiti
Oceania (1 team): New Zealand
Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan all qualified for the first time, with Curacao becoming the smallest nation by population ever to qualify.
What is the UEFA playoff?
The UEFA playoff determines the final four European teams that will qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Sixteen European nations will compete. The field includes 12 teams that finished second in their World Cup qualifying groups, plus four additional teams that earned entry through their performance in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.
The playoff field includes some of Europe’s most prominent nations. Italy, Denmark, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales are among the 12 group runners-up, while Romania, Sweden, Northern Ireland and North Macedonia qualified via the Nations League route.
Unlike traditional two-leg playoff formats, these matches are single elimination.
Semifinal matches are scheduled for Mar. 26, 2026, and finals will be played on Mar. 31.
What is the intercontinental playoff?
The intercontinental playoff determines the final two World Cup berths from non-European teams.
Six teams will be placed in two separate, three-team brackets, with the highest-ranked teams getting a bye. The system creates two parallel competitions, each producing one World Cup qualifier.
In each bracket, the two lower-ranked sides face off in a semifinal, with the winner advancing to face the top-seeded team in the final. All matches are single-elimination with no return legs.
Jamaica will take on New Caledonia, with the winner facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the final, while Bolivia and Suriname will play for the right to face Iraq.
The intercontinental playoffs are scheduled for March 23-31, with all four matches played in Mexico at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara and Estadio BBVA in Monterrey.