With the pots for next month\u2019s 2026 FIFA World Cup draw now known, Canada has an idea of what it will be up against in Group B action next summer. <\/p>\n
The CanMNT\u2019s first game is set for June 12 at Toronto\u2019s BMO Field and with the pots populated, Canada Soccer can begin to work out potentialities in earnest. <\/p>\n
With the draw only two weeks away, let\u2019s take a look at some favourable and some nightmare scenarios in play for Canada as they embark on a World Cup on home soil. <\/p>\n
First, we must go over how the draw works. All 48 teams will be divided up into four different pots. Pot 1 is comprised of the three co-hosts \u2013 Canada, the United States and Mexico \u2013 and the top nine FIFA-ranked sides. The rankings are based on the November edition of the monthly rankings, the final release prior to the draw. The remaining three pots are also based on rankings. <\/p>\n
With UEFA fielding 16 representatives at the tournament and only 12 different groups, it is inevitable that European teams will face off with each other in the same group. But UEFA is the only confederation where that is possible. No other confederation will have more than a single member nation in the 12 groups. <\/p>\n
POT 1: Canada, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany <\/p>\n
On the one hand, it would be a surreal and very cool moment to watch Canada do battle with one of world football\u2019s juggernauts at home. On the other, avoiding a group of nine teams that has combined for a total of 16 World Cups, 11 Euros and 25 Copas America greatly increases Canada\u2019s chances of reaching the knockout stage for the first time ever. Oh, and an important note on the knockout stage \u2013 with the expanded field of 48 teams, the first knockout stage is a Round of 32, rather than a Round of 16. That means the top two finishers from each group will advance, as will the best eight third-place finishers. So Canada won\u2019t get a first-hand look at the likes of Lamine Yamal, Florian Wirtz and Jude Bellingham unless they reach the knockouts. <\/p>\n
POT 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia <\/p>\n
Pot 2 is filled with teams that Canada is familiar with in recent years. Croatia and Morocco were Canada\u2019s Group H opposition at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Canada has played friendlies against Ecuador, Australia and Colombia in 2025, while Uruguay defeated Canada on penalties in the third-place game at Copa America 2024 and Japan took to the pitch against Canada in a pair of friendlies in 2022 and 2023. While they haven\u2019t played each other in years, Canada has previously played against Switzerland, Iran, South Korea and Austria, as well. Only Senegal would be a first-time opponent. Croatia is the top-ranked team in the pot at 10, while Australia, who beat Canada 1-0 in Montreal last month, brings up the rear at 26. <\/p>\n
POT 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Cote d\u2019Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa <\/p>\n
The potential opponents for Canada in Pot 3 is down one because Panama cannot be drawn into the same group as a fellow Concacaf member. The remaining 11 teams are a mix of regional giants, two European sides coming back in from the cold and a Central Asian debutant. From an individual star power perspective, Pot 3 has a number of big names including Mo Salah, Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Scott McTominay. Of the 11 potential opponents, Norway is the only side Canada has never played before. The only recent opposition among the pot are Cote d\u2019Ivoire, who beat Canada on penalties at the Canadian Shield tournament in Toronto this past summer, and Qatar, who Canada beat in a friendly ahead of the last World Cup. The highest-ranked team of the pot is No. 29 Norway, while the lowest-ranked side is No. 61 South Africa. <\/p>\n
POT 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, UEFA 1, UEFA 2, UEFA 3, UEFA 4, FIFA 1 and FIFA 2 <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s where things get dicey. Firstly, we must remove Curacao and Haiti from the equation as both teams are Concacaf nations. That leaves Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana and New Zealand, plus four European playoff winners and two more intercontinental playoff victors. With two more Concacaf teams in the intercontinental playoffs, Jamaica and Suriname, Canada\u2019s potential opponents from Pot 4 could be whittled down to just eight and there is a vast discrepancy in quality of the sides at play here. Jordan (No. 66), Cape Verde (No. 68), Ghana (No. 72) and New Zealand (No. 86) will not strike fear into the hearts of Jesse Marsch\u2019s side, but it\u2019s the four potential European opponent who will give them pause. Among the 16 nations set to take part in the UEFA playoffs are Italy (No. 12), Denmark (No. 21) and Turkiye (No. 25). Between the Azzurri and New Zealand, there is a 74-position swing, so needless to say, what Pot 4 has to offer Canada varies wildly. <\/p>\n
BEST-CASE DRAW: Canada, Austria, South Africa and New Zealand<\/p>\n
WORST-CASE DRAW: Canada, Croatia, Egypt and Italy <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the pots for next month\u2019s 2026 FIFA World Cup draw now known, Canada has an idea of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[712,49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-293976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}