World Cup 2026: Fifa to keep top seeds apart in draw

The 12 groups at the World Cup will include one team from each of the four pots.

Fifa will start by drawing the teams from pot one.

Co-hosts Mexico (A1), Canada (B1) and the United States (D1) will have coloured balls with their flags on to denote their special status. Their group positions are pre-determined so they play all their games in their own countries.

Once a team has been drawn they will go into the first available group in alphabetical order. The draw computer will ensure Spain, Argentina, France and England are placed in groups in the correct section of the bracket.

The draw then continues with pot two, pot three and finally pot four.

In a change to previous draw procedures, and to speed up the process, countries will not be drawn into their group position.

Seeded countries will all go into position one, with a pre-determined random grid determining how all other countries will slot into the group to create the fixtures.

No group can have more than one country from the same confederation. So for instance when Colombia are drawn from pot two, they cannot go into a group with Argentina or Brazil.

This applies to all pots, with the caveat that four groups will have two European nations, as there are 16 European qualifiers to be drawn into 12 groups.

The inter-confederation play-offs will have few potential group options. Pathway 1 (New Caledonia, Jamaica, DR Congo) cannot be drawn into a group with Concacaf or African teams. Pathway 2 (Bolivia, Suriname, Iraq) must avoid South America, Concacaf and Asia.

While the date and order of games will be known when the draw is made, the venues and kick-off times will not be confirmed until Saturday, 6 December.