Draw for 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is here. What Northwest fans needs to know
More than seven years after the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026 was awarded to a joint bid of the United States, Mexico and Canada, and three years after learning Seattle would be a host city, the two most important days for the tournament to date are finally here.
We’re finally going to learn the groups for the first 48-team World Cup. And, more important locally, what the matchups will be for the games taking place in Seattle next June and July.
All that information will come over the span of about 26 hours beginning Friday morning when the World Cup draw is held in Washington. Beginning at 9 a.m., the draw will set the 12 groups of four teams that will compete in the tournament next June and July.
That’s step one in what FIFA has turned into a two-part process.
The biggest piece of information most are seeking won’t come until Saturday morning when FIFA formally announces the finalized match schedule. That announcement will provide the info on what matches are being played in what cities and at what times.
The decision to wait a day before setting the match schedule is a change from the past when days and locations for specific group stage matches were predetermined.
FIFA said the wait in announcing the match schedule 24 hours after the draw is an attempt at creating a schedule that allows for fans in the home countries around the world to be able to watch games at the best possible time.
Locally, the wait in setting the schedule may have less to do with the teams that end up playing here and more with the potential kickoff times.
For example, putting a game involving a premier European team in Seattle probably would need to be in the afternoon as it would line up nicely for the rest of North America and be a prime time event in most of Europe that is eight or nine hours ahead.
But let’s say it’s a match involving a top Asian country that is played here. That would be better suited for an evening start time as that would be the middle of the day – the next day – back home.
What is already set and won’t change is the groups the matches will come from to be played at Lumen Field – or Seattle Stadium as it will be known for the tournament.
The Seattle angle
The letters G, D and B are the ones to pay attention to when the draw begins.
Two of the group stage matches played in Seattle will be from Group G – the first June 15, the other June 26. One match will be from Group D and feature the United States on June 19. The other will be June 24 and feature a matchup from Group B – the group including Canada. But that game won’t feature the Canadians as they are already scheduled to play up the road in Vancouver, B.C., on the same day.
All other matches from Group G are being played in Los Angeles or Vancouver. The rest of Group B is being contested in San Francisco and L.A. – with the exception of Canada’s opening match in Toronto. The group including the U.S. will play all their matches entirely on the West Coast.
Here’s the rundown of the matches scheduled for Seattle:
Monday, June 15 – Group G match
Friday, June 19 – Group D match: United States vs. TBD
Wednesday, June 24 – Group B match
Friday, June 26 – Group G match
Wednesday, July 1 – Round of 32 match: Group G winner vs. 3rd place from Group A/E/H/I/J
Monday, July 6 – Round of 16 match.
The Vancouver angle
The only two venues for the World Cup closer in proximity than Lumen Field and BC Place are Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In other words, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on how the draw plays out for matches in Vancouver as there could be some opportunity for fans interested in seeing the matches just across the border. And perhaps some better matchups.
Here’s the current schedule for the matches in Vancouver:
Saturday, June 13 – Group D match
Thursday, June 18 – Group B match – Canada vs. TBD
Sunday, June 21 – Group G match
Wednesday, June 24 – Group B match: Canada vs. TBD
Friday, June 26 – Group G match
Thursday, July 2 – Round of 32 match: Group B winner vs. 3rd place Group E/F/G/I/J
Tuesday, July 7 – Round of 16 match
How it all works
Do you like exorbitant production, a host of celebrities and athletes standing behind fishbowls trying to open small balls containing country names, and an event that could be wrapped up in about 20 minutes but takes two hours? Welcome to the World Cup draw.
At least the process should – should – run better than most CONCACAF events.
All countries have been put into four pots in line with their current world rankings. The exceptions are the three host countries: Mexico is in Group A; Canada in Group B; U.S. in Group D.
The rest of the pots are broken down as such:
Pot 1 – Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.
Pot 2 – Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.
Pot 3 – Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.
Pot 4 – Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2.
Every group will have one team drawn from each pot. There are rules, though. Every pot must have at least one team from UEFA (the European federation), but no more than two. Other rules keep other confederations from having multiple teams in a group. For example, the U.S. and Haiti won’t be in the same group as both are part of CONCACAF.
What’s worth watching when the groups are drawn
Pot 4 is littered with potential land mines because of the teams that are still competing in the European playoffs that will take place next March.
Only four of the 16 teams competing in the European playoffs will advance to the World Cup. But that group competing includes Italy (No. 12 in the world rankings), Denmark (No. 21), Turkey (No. 25), Ukraine (No. 28), Poland (No. 31), Wales (No. 32), Sweden (No. 43) and Czechia (No. 44).
If you’re Spain, how would you like a group that includes Colombia, Egypt and Italy? If you’re the U.S., a group of Japan, Norway and Denmark would seem suboptimal. The fact that all four of the European playoff qualifiers were placed in Pot 4 provides some major intrigue to the draw.
Some of those teams are going to qualify. Some of those teams are going to make for some nightmare groups. There might not be a “Group of Death” as there have been with past World Cups thanks to the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams with 32 of those advancing to the knockout rounds. But there are going to be some groups where it could be tough for a third-place team with some expectations to advance.