Probably the closest the competition has to a 'group of death' comes in the form of Group I, comprising France, Erling Haaland's Norway, Senegal, plus one of the FIFA playoff winners.
Elsewhere, European champions Spain got grouped with Uruguay in Group H, while heavyweights Brazil were paired with Morocco in C. Another one of the title contenders, England, are in a tricky last group (L), alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama.
Holders Argentina were handed the rather kind Group J of Algeria, Austria, and Jordan. Fellow Pot 1 nations Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands all also came away with comfortable draws on paper.
The host nations of Mexico, Canada and the USA will all fancy their chances of progression, having all largely avoided the most feared sides.
Below you can see how the World Cup groups were drawn.
In what follows, 'P/O' stands for 'Play-Off', in reference to the European and FIFA Play-off Tournaments, which will take place in March to determine the final six of the 48 participants. The potential playoff winners are listed in brackets.
2026 FIFA World Cup groups
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, P/O D winner (Republic of Ireland, Czechia, Denmark or North Macedonia)
Group B: Canada, P/O A winner (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia), Qatar, Switzerland
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, P/O C winner (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo)
Group E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, P/O B winner (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland or Albania), Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, P/O 2 winner (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname), Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, P/O 1 winner (New Caledonia, Jamaica or DR Congo), Uzbekistan, Colombia
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
Mexico to host South Africa in opening match
It should be noted that we don’t know when and where all the matches will be played at the World Cup, yet. That will be announced on Saturday (Dec. 6th), when FIFA releases the fixture information.
However, we do know that the tournament will kick off at Mexico's Azteca Stadium with a match between that host nation and South Africa, on June 11th.
Read more about the opening fixtures here.
What about the playoffs?
As mentioned, four nations will come into the tournament from the European playoff pathways (A, B, C and D), and two will come from the inter-confederational playoff pathways (1 and 2).
Both those tournaments will be held in late March. Click through the links for everything you need to know about the European Play-Offs, and everything you need to know about the FIFA Play-Off Tournament.
From Bocelli to Trump and everything in between
Flashscore’s reporters arrived at snowy conditions outside Washington’s Kennedy Centre ahead of the draw, but were soon warmed by the incredible tenor tones of Andrea Bocelli, who opened the ceremony with a spine-tingling rendition of 'Nessun Dorma'.
The festivities didn’t stop with that, however, as musical performances and celebrity cameos came in boatloads during the near hour-long build-up to the draw proper.
Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger sang the new World Cup anthem, 'Desire', Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart kept it chugging along between acts, and Matthew McConaughey even popped up on screen.
All of that was somehow dwarfed by Gianni Infantino’s presentation of the new-fangled ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ to US President Donald Trump, an uncomfortably indulgent but entirely expected affair.
Rio Ferdinand and Samantha Johnson led the actual draw, with the help of North American sporting legends Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal, in what was a slightly clunky but fairly swift procedure.
Here's all the information about how the World Cup Draw worked.
