Spain, Argentina, and France, three of the strongest teams in international football, have been drawn on separate paths for the 2026 World Cup group stage. This means they will not meet before the semifinals, even if all three progress through the groups.
FIFA has confirmed that the top four ranked teams—Spain, Argentina, France, and England—will each be placed in distinct paths to prevent an early encounter in the knockout stages.
Argentina defeated France in a tiebreaker in Qatar three years ago to win the World Cup. Even if the two teams meet again, it will be no earlier than the semifinals.
Once pot one groupings are complete, teams from the remaining pots will be drawn sequentially. Teams from the same confederation will not be placed in the same group, except UEFA, which has 16 representatives, allowing up to two teams per group. This ensures that at least four groups will contain two European teams.
For the draw, each of the 48 teams has its name folded into a ball, divided by pot. Another set of balls indicates the group positions, numbered 1–4. The balls are drawn randomly from pot one first, assigning each team to the top slot in each group. Host nations’ groups are already determined, with the remaining nine teams allocated to groups C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L.
After completing pot one, pots two, three, and four are drawn in the same manner. Teams from pot one occupy the top position, while others are placed in remaining slots randomly.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will start next June in the United States. Tonight’s draw at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., presided over by U.S. President Donald Trump with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in attendance, will set the stage for the tournament. The event begins at 12 PM local time (11 PM Bangladesh time), and FIFA will release the complete match schedule on Saturday. The draw can be watched live on FIFA’s official website and YouTube channel.
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