When will the World Cup draw take place?
World Championship The giveaway will begin at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC at 12:00 noon local time on Friday, December 5 (17:00 GMT/4:00 Saturday EST). Don't worry if you're tuning in late though: based on previous giveaways, there will be some speeches about how FIFA is on the verge of bringing world peace through football, some interpretive dance about how FIFA is on the verge of bringing world peace through football, some videos of kids kicking a ball to show that FIFA is on the verge of bringing world peace through football, and then hopefully FIFA will actually bring world peace through football. And if you missed any of this, don't worry, FIFA will also be presenting a Peace Prize to the person most likely to bring world peace in the next few months (more on that later). At some point they will split the teams into groups and finally give this expanded tournament an up to date schedule.
And how does the draw actually happen?
The 48 teams were divided into four pots of 12 teams each. Pot 1 includes the three hosts – the United States, Mexico and Canada – as well as the top nine teams. in the current FIFA rankings. The next three pots were determined according to FIFA rankings, with the lowest ranked teams going into pot 4. The 12 World Cup groups would then be drawn with one team from each pot (full pots to be revealed later).
Sounds simple!
Well, not really. At the end of March, six qualifying places were still to be determined for the playoffs, and the teams participating in these matches were placed in pot four. This means that a team like Italy will be ostensibly the weakest opponent in the group, even though they have won the World Cup four times and are ranked 12th in the world, if they make it through the European qualifying knockout rounds. In theory, teams from the same qualifying conference should not be in the same group. But this is not possible for European teams as UEFA will have 16 teams in the draw. However, there will be a maximum of two European teams in each group. In addition, the top four teams in the FIFA rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England – can't look at each other to the semi-finals (of course they need to get there first), provided they win their groups.
Great, so I can start planning my viewing schedule after the giveaway ends?
Not so fast. FIFA is making the most of this weekend and the match schedule will be released on Saturday 6 December. This way he can determine what kick-off time and location will work best for fans traveling to North America and those watching at home (for example, an earlier kick-off will be better for fans watching on TV in Europe).
And which teams actually qualified?
Currently, 42 teams have reserved their places. Here are our qualifiers grouped by pot for the draw:
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, 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, four European play-off teams, two intercontinental play-off teams.
For a more in-depth look at how qualifying matches got here, you can view our detailed guide:
Who's in the playoffs?
In the European play-offs, the winners of Wales v Bosnia and Herzegovina will take on the winners of Italy v Northern Ireland to reach the final; the winners of the match Ukraine – Sweden will play with the winners of the match Poland – Albania; the winners of the match Slovakia – Kosovo will be at home with the winners of the match Türkiye – Romania; and the winners of the match Czech Republic – Ireland will host the winners of the match Denmark – North Macedonia.
In the intercontinental knockout stage in Mexico, New Caledonia will face Jamaica for the right to play DR Congo for a place in the final, while the winners of the Bolivia-Suriname match will face Iraq for the other slot. All playoff matches are one-off matches.
Do you want to speculate about the Death Group?
Of course, speculation is all we have until the actual thing happens. World Championship starts next year. Theoretically Argentina, Morocco, Italy and Norway. could be drawn together, putting the teams ranked 1st, 11th, 12th and 29th in the world in the same group. And Norway, the lowest ranked team of these teams, won all eight of their qualifying matches, scoring 37 goals along the way.
Who will hold the real draw?
Presenters haven't been confirmed yet, but the Qatar 2022 draw is headed by Idris Elba, so perhaps… someone completely unrelated to the host nations? There will almost certainly be plenty of famous retired players taking the stage briefly for some awkward banter before pulling the ball out of the plastic globe.
Where can I keep track of this?
A better choice would be the Guardian's live blog, which will this is where it works a couple of hours before the ceremony starts. You can also watch the ceremony on the FIFA website. his YouTube channel. In the UK the draw will be broadcast on the BBC and BBC iPlayer, in the US on Fox and Fubo, in Australia on SBS and SBS On Demand, and in Canada on TSN.
And what is this peace prize?
Oh yes. FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “In an increasingly unstable and divided world, it is vital to recognize the outstanding contributions of those who work hard to end conflict and bring people together in a spirit of peace.” The prize will be awarded during Friday's drawing.
What a touching feeling. I guess the prize goes to the holy nun or the cute little dog who saved the orphans from the burning house?
Fine … They're talking that this will happen Infantino's friend Donald Trump.
Wait. The guy who recently accused Democrats of “seditious behavior punishable by death”?
Yeah.
Whoever said that the Haitian immigrants who just heroically qualified for the World Cup eat domestic dogs?
Yeah.
It's a guy!
Oh.
On a more positive note, the expanded World Cup draw (48 teams this edition compared to 32 last time) means there is room for plucky teams with little chance of lifting the trophy, such as Haiti, Curacao, Cape Verde and England.
Breathtaking! And when does the tournament itself start?
June 11, 2026 before the final starts in New Jersey July 19.
