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FIFA revealed its World Cup groups on Friday at a high-profile event in Washington, DC.
With the help of President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, NFL legend Tom Brady, NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and the NHL’s greatest player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, the 12 groups were announced.
All of the aforementioned people selected random balls containing the names of countries and their selections assigned them to their groups. Trump, Sheinbaum and Carney all chose their own country’s name to start the process.
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President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hold their countries’ cards during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 5, 2025. (Stéphanie Scarbrough, Pool/AP Photo)
Brady picked the Pot 1 teams, O’Neal picked the Pot 2 teams, and Judge and Gretzky had Pots 3 and 4, respectively.
While the groups were created on Friday, six of the 48 participating teams will not be known until March 2026. Four of them will be from the 16-team UEFA qualifiers.
The countries participating in the UEFA play-offs are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.
The remaining two places will be decided in the 2026 FIFA World Cup play-off tournament. The six teams participating in this tournament are Bolivia, DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.
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(L to R) FIFA President Gianni Infantino, U.S. President Donald Trump and President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum take the stage during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, December 5, 2025. (Stéphanie Scarbrough / POOL / AFP)
Below you will find the 12 groups:
Group A
Mexico
South Africa
Republic of Korea
UEFA D play-off winner
Group B
Canada
UEFA A play-off winner
Qatar
Swiss
Group C
Brazil
Morocco
Haiti
Scotland
Group D
USA
Paraguay
Australia
UEFA C play-off winner
Group E
Germany
Curacao
Ivory Coast
Ecuador
Group F
The Netherlands
Japan
UEFA B play-off winner
Tunisia
Group G
Belgium
Egypt
RI Iran
New Zealand
Group H
Spain
Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia
Uruguay
Group I
France
Senegal
Winner of FIFA Play-offs 2
Norway
Group J
Argentina
Algeria
Austria
Jordan
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Alejandro Zendejas (17) scores a goal and celebrates with Max Arfsten (18), Cristian Roldan (24) and Christian Pulisic (10) during an international friendly match between Japan and the USMNT at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio on September 9, 2025. (Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Group K
Portugal
Winner of FIFA Play-offs 1
Uzbekistan
Colombia
Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama
