{"id":327714,"date":"2025-12-05T20:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/327714\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:21:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:21:07","slug":"world-cup-draw-all-smiles-for-hosts-mbappe-and-haaland-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/327714\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup draw: All smiles for hosts, Mbappe and Haaland clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It was almost 90 minutes behind schedule. There were multiple musical numbers. FIFA president Gianni Infantino delivered a speech before awarding a new &#8220;Peace Prize&#8221; to his close friend, U.S. President Donald Trump. Hollywood-inspired pomp and circumstance dominated proceedings. But, after all that, the 2026 World Cup draw is finally complete. View the groups below.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Group\" name=\"Group\">Group A<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nMexico (co-host) \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfd<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nSouth Africa \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nSouth Korea \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nUEFA Playoff D \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa<\/p>\n<p>UEFA Playoff D: Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia, or Ireland<\/p>\n<p>Group B<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nCanada (co-host) \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nUEFA Playoff A \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nQatar \ud83c\uddf6\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nSwitzerland \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udded<\/p>\n<p>UEFA Playoff A: Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, or Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/p>\n<p>Group C<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nBrazil \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nMorocco \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nHaiti \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nScotland \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc73\udb40\udc63\udb40\udc74\udb40\udc7f<\/p>\n<p>Group D<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nUnited States (co-host) \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nParaguay \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddfe<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nAustralia \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nUEFA Playoff C \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa<\/p>\n<p>UEFA Playoff C: Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, or Kosovo<\/p>\n<p>Group E<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nGermany \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nCuracao \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddfc<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nIvory Coast \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddee<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nEcuador \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\udde8<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescore.com\/topsn\/news\/thescore:\/\/\/topsn\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Get the biggest stories from across the soccer world by visiting our Top Soccer News section and subscribing to push notifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Group F<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nNetherlands \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nJapan \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nUEFA Playoff B \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nTunisia \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf3<\/p>\n<p>UEFA Playoff B: Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, or Albania<\/p>\n<p>Group G<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nBelgium \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nEgypt \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddec<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nIran \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nNew Zealand \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff<\/p>\n<p>Group H<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nSpain \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nCape Verde \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddfb<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nSaudi Arabia \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nUruguay \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddfe<\/p>\n<p>Group I<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nFrance \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nSenegal \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddf3<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nIntercontinental Playoff 2 \ud83c\udf0e<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nNorway \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf4<\/p>\n<p>Intercontinental Playoff 2: Iraq, Bolivia, or Suriname<\/p>\n<p>Group J<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nArgentina \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nAlgeria \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddff<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nAustria \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf9<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nJordan \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf4<\/p>\n<p>Group K<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nPortugal \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf9<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nIntercontinental Playoff 1 \ud83c\udf0e<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nUzbekistan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddff<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nColombia \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf4<\/p>\n<p>Intercontinental Playoff 1: DR Congo, Jamaica, or New Caledonia<\/p>\n<p>Group L<\/p>\n<p>Slot<br \/>\nNation<\/p>\n<p>1<br \/>\nEngland \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f<\/p>\n<p>2<br \/>\nCroatia \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf7<\/p>\n<p>3<br \/>\nGhana \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udded<\/p>\n<p>4<br \/>\nPanama \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about each team that&#8217;s qualified so far, tap <a href=\"https:\/\/thescore.com\/news\/3246611\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>World Cup schedule<\/p>\n<p>FIFA will unveil the World Cup schedule, complete with specific venues and kickoff times for each match, during a separate event that begins Saturday at 12 p.m. ET. This story will be updated once the full schedule is available.<\/p>\n<p>To date, we know that Mexico&#8217;s iconic Estadio Azteca will stage the opening fixture of the tournament on June 11, 2026. The World Cup, which will feature 104 total matches across 16 stadiums, runs as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Group stage: June 11-27<\/p>\n<p>Round of 32: June 28-July 3<\/p>\n<p>Round of 16: July 4-7<\/p>\n<p>Quarterfinals: July 8-11<\/p>\n<p>Semifinals: July 14-15<\/p>\n<p>Third-place match: July 18<\/p>\n<p>Final: July 19<\/p>\n<p>The final will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p>How will it all work?<\/p>\n<p>The World Cup will feature 48 teams for the first time in the event&#8217;s storied 95-year history, officially making this the biggest edition in soccer history. Expansion from the 32-team format, which had been used since 1998, means there will be more of everything in North America next summer: teams, players, games, and permutations to follow.<\/p>\n<p>The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will advance to the single-elimination knockout stage, as in previous years. But this time, they&#8217;ll be joined by the eight best third-placed teams from the group stage, creating a knockout bracket that features 32 teams instead of the usual 16.<\/p>\n<p>If third-placed teams from the various groups are tied on points, the following tiebreakers will be used, in order, to determine who advances to the knockout stage: goal difference, total goals scored, conduct score (yellow and red card accumulation), and, finally, FIFA ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Every knockout game from the round of 32 through the World Cup final is winner-take-all. If a match is tied after 90 minutes, the teams will play 30 minutes of extra time, split into 15-minute halves. If there&#8217;s still no winner from there, a penalty shootout will be used, as it was in the 2022 World Cup final when Lionel Messi and Argentina defeated France.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescore.com\/topsn\/news\/thescore:\/\/\/topsn\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Get the biggest stories from across the soccer world by visiting our Top Soccer News section and subscribing to push notifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was almost 90 minutes behind schedule. There were multiple musical numbers. FIFA president Gianni Infantino delivered a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-327714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327714","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=327714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}