Today, Canada will find out its opponents in an expanded 48-nation group next summer. World Cup at the tournament draw in Washington, D.C.
Canadian men opens Group B on June 12 in Toronto before matches on June 18 and 24 in Vancouver.
So far, 42 countries have qualified, with a further six to be determined in the playoffs in March. The full tournament schedule will be published tomorrow.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw ceremony will take place on Friday at 12:00 pm EST at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
A record 64 countries will take part to determine which 48 teams will qualify for next summer's tournament.
Here's what you need to know:
The draw will divide field of 48 teams into 12 groups of four, designated Group A, Group B… and so on, down to Group L. The balls corresponding to the participating countries will be divided into four pots of 12, with each group containing one team selected from each pot.
The six goals in pot four do not represent any specific country as those World Cup spots won't be decided until March.
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Four European teams will qualify for the UEFA knockout stages, while two additional FIFA knockout stages will feature teams from around the world.
Host countries—the United States, Mexico and Canada—are admitted into the first pot. This is a significant advantage as it means they avoid being drawn into a group with several of the tournament's top teams.
The tournament will expand from 32 teams to 48, and a draw will divide them into 12 groups of four.
The 12 round-robin World Championship groups are designated Group A, Group B… and so on, down to Group L.
It is already predetermined that Mexico will end up in Group A, Canada in Group B, and the United States in Group D.
The full schedule of games will be announced on Saturday.
Will the “Group of Death” still exist?
The highest-ranked team yet to qualify for this World Cup is four-time champions Italy, ranked 12th in the FIFA rankings. The Italians still have a chance to qualify for the UEFA Play-offs A, so teams will likely be hoping to avoid being drawn into the same group as the fourth-place finisher in the pot.
In the past, World Championships have included what is known as a “group of death” – a group that appears unusually difficult after a lucky draw. With more teams spread across more groups and the pots largely organized in descending order of FIFA ranking, there may not be an obvious Group of Death this time around.
But there is still a significant difference in the quality of the teams that could emerge from pot four, which includes the four European play-off winners (which could include 21st-placed Italy and Denmark), as well as 86th-placed New Zealand and tiny World Cup newcomers Curacao and Cape Verde.
There is widespread speculation that the award will go to Trump, given his close relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his unsuccessful campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The new prize, awarded at the time of the draw, will “recognize exceptional action for peace”, football's governing body said on Wednesday.
— With files from The Associated Press.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
