When is the Fifa World Cup draw and how will it work?
England and Scotland to find out who they will play in US, Canada and Mexico tournament
England and Scotland will find out who they will play at the 2026 World Cup when the draw takes place later this week.
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The Three Lions have been drawn alongside the favourites in pot one of the draw, which also contains the host nations: The US, Mexico and Canada.
Scotland is in pot three. There are still six unknown playoff winners, and Wales and Northern Ireland will need to win games to get their tickets to North America and join the draw.
Read also: Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland World Cup play-off opponents revealed
Read also: Cristiano Ronaldo could be suspended for Portugal’s opening World Cup games
Last month, Scotland beat Denmark in dramatic fashion to confirm their qualification for their first World Cup since 1998 - when Jim Leighton (now 67) was still playing.
If all of the Home Nations made it to the tournament, it would be for the first time since 1958.
Here is all you need to know.
When is the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw?
The FIFA World Cup 2026 draw will be held on Friday, December 5 at midday local time, which is 5pm in the UK.
How to watch the draw
The draw can be seen on Fifa.com and the organisation’s YouTube channel.
How does the draw work?
There are 48 teams in the draw, for the tournament has been expanded from the 32 team format which had been in operation since 1998.
There are four pots of teams going into the draw and these will form 12 groups of four teams.
At this point in time, 42 of the 48 nations have qualified for next summer’s tournament and, based on ranking points, Fifa has divided the teams into four pots.
Each group will have one team from each of the four pots.
For those that have not qualified yet, the teams will be entered as ‘qualifier 1 / 2 etc’ - so it is possible for Wales, for example, to learn who they will play if they make it.
The European play-offs will be in March.
Which teams have qualified for the World Cup and who is in which 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, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde , Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, four European play-off teams, two intercontinental play-off teams