Canada could begin their 2026 World Cup campaign against No. 66 Jordan, No. 68 Cape Verde, No. 72 Ghana or No. 86 New Zealand. But the Canadians could also face No. 12 Italians in their opener on June 12 at BMO Field in Toronto.
And Jesse Marsh's team will meet Mexico in the round of 16 if both teams finish second in their groups.
While the exact course of the tournament won't be known until the Dec. 5 draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., FIFA released details of the draw procedure Tuesday, hinting at what could be ahead.
The draw will reveal 12 groups in the expanded 48-team, 104-game soccer tournament, with spots assigned to three co-hosts – Mexico at No. 15 in Group A, Canada at No. 27 in Group B and the United States at No. 14 in Group D.
The three co-organizers and nine highest ranked teams will be placed in Pot A, with the remaining entries divided in descending order of ranking into Pots B, C and D.
But Pot D will also include six potentially higher-ranked teams appearing in the FIFA play-off tournament and European play-offs.
Four teams will qualify from the 16-nation European playoff field, including No. 12 Italy, No. 21 Denmark, No. 25 Turkey, No. 28 Ukraine, No. 31 Poland, No. 32 Wales, No. 43 Sweden, No. 44 Czech Republic, No. 45 Slovakia, No. 47 Romania, No. 59 Ireland, No. 63 Albania, No. 65 Northern Macedonia, No. 65 North Macedonia, No. 47 69 Northern Ireland, No. 71 Bosnia and Herzegovina and No. 80 Kosovo.
Two more will take part in the six-nation playoff tournament, which includes Congo (56th), Iraq (58th), Jamaica (70th), Bolivia (76th), Suriname (123rd) and New Caledonia (149th).
Canada cannot face another CONCACAF team in its opening group.
FIFA says the decision to place the play-off winners in Pot 4, which also includes No. 82 Curacao and No. 84 Haiti, was made to avoid disadvantaging teams that had already qualified in favor of teams that had to go through the extra step of qualifying.
CBC Sports senior correspondent Chris Jones on the growing camaraderie on the Canadian men's soccer team.
To qualify for the World Cup, Italy will have to beat Northern Ireland and then either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Under the draw procedure, Canada will begin Group B play against a team selected from Pot 4 before traveling west to Vancouver to face a team from Pot 3 on June 18 and then a team from Pot 2 on June 24.
At worst, Canada will face No. 10 Croatia, No. 11 Morocco or No. 13 Colombia from Pot 2, No. 29 Norway or No. 34 Egypt from Pot 3, and No. 12 Italy or No. 21 Denmark from Pot 4.
On the plus side, no group can have more than two UEFA teams (although there will be at least one in each group as there will be 16 UEFA teams).
The 12 group winners, 12 second-placed teams and the top eight third-placed teams advance to the playoffs.
The Canada men's national soccer team and Ecuador are tied 0-0 in an international friendly at BMO Field in Toronto. Canadian midfielder Ali Ahmed was sent off in the 6th minute after receiving a red card.
The winner of Canada's Group B will face the third-place team from Group E, F, G, I or J in the round of 16. The runner-up in Group B will face the runner-up in Mexico's Group A.
The highest-ranked teams, No. 1 Spain and No. 2 Argentina, will be placed on opposite sides of the draw, as well as No. 3 France and No. 4 England.
This means that the top two teams, if they win their group, will not meet until the final. Teams 1 and 2 can play in the semi-finals with numbers 3 and 4, provided that they all emerge as group winners.
FIFA says an updated fixture schedule, with each match assigned to a stadium with a corresponding kick-off time, will be published on December 6.
At the 2022 World Championships in Qatar, Canada, ranked 41st in the world at the time, was drawn in a group with No. 2 Belgium, No. 12 Croatia and No. 22 Morocco. The Canadians lost all three matches, winning 7-2, and will be looking for their first win in their third trip to the tournament.
The Canadians went 0-3-0 in their first tournament appearance and beat France, Hungary and the Soviet Union 5-0 in Mexico in 1986.
World Cup Baskets
Pot 1: CanadaMexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European play-offs A, B, C and D, FIFA play-off tournaments 1 and 2.
