World Cup 2026 draw live updates: Start time, how it works, which countries will play in Philly
Philadelphia will host six games in the 2026 World Cup, but won't get the U.S. during the group stage.
A member of the media works prior to the final draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Thursday.
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Chris Carlson / AP
What you should know
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FIFA is holding a drawing Friday beginning at noon that will divide 42 countries into 12 groups for the 2026 World Cup, which are being held in Philadelphia and across North America.
Three host countries already know their groups: U.S. (Group D), Canada (Group B), and Mexico (Group A).
The World Cup draw, which will determine the groups for the round-robin stage of the tournament, will take place today at noon.
The event will be hosted by the Kennedy Center in Washington and broadcast live on Fox. Coverage of the draw will begin at 11:30 a.m. and conclude at 3 p.m.
FIFA’s event is expected to last about an hour and a half, with the draw itself accounting for about 45 minutes of that time.
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Tight security as Trump, other dignitaries expected to attend today's World Cup draw
It was snowing as the sun rose over the nation’s capital Friday, a rare sight in December. The rest of the scene around the Kennedy Center was one this town is used to: rows of giant black SUVs for dignitaries, and fences lining many blocks of sidewalks.
I got to the security checkpoint just after 8 a.m., and there were already long lines to get in and many nearby streets were closed.
The checkpoint, by the way, was up the street near the Watergate hotel - made famous by former President Richard Nixon’s scandal in the 1970s. There have been plenty of jokes about that this week among the international media who’ve come to town.
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How does today's World Cup draw work?
Qualified nations have been divided into four pots based on their FIFA World Rankings positions. Pot 1 contains the nine best-qualified teams in the rankings, as well as the three cohosts.
The host nations have already been assigned to groups — Mexico will be in Group A, Canada will be in Group B, and the U.S. will be in Group D. The remaining teams will be assigned to the other nine groups, one team per group.
After all the teams in Pot 1 have been drawn, the draw will move to Pot 2, selecting one team for each of the 12 groups. The process will repeat with Pot 3 and Pot 4, resulting in 12 groups of four teams.
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What countries have qualified for the World Cup?
42 countries have already qualified for next year's World Cup, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and will be included in today's draw.
There are six spots remaining – four for the top teams in the European Federation’s 16-team playoff, and two for the top two finishers in FIFA's intercontinental playoff tournament. Both take place in March.
Since those have not been determined yet, those six teams will be represented by placeholders in today's draw.
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Which teams will play in Philly?
We won't know which counties will play in Philadelphia until Saturday, when FIFA releases its official schedule. But we'll get a sense who might travel here.
Philadelphia will host six World Cup games at Lincoln Financial Field - five in the group stage, and one in the Round of 16. So we know counties ending up in Groups C, E, I, and L will play at the Linc (which unfortunately means no Team USA games during the group stage, since the U.S. has already been assigned Group D).
Here are the World Cup games scheduled to be played in Philly:
