Canada today finds out its group opponents for next summer’s 48-nation FIFA World Cup at the tournament draw in Washington, DC.
The Canadian men will open Group B on June 12 in Toronto before matches on June 18 and 24 in Vancouver.
Forty-two countries have qualified so far, with six more to be determined in the March qualifiers. The full tournament schedule will be revealed tomorrow.
The drawing ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place Friday at noon Eastern Time at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
US President Donald Trump, as well as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, are expected to attend.
A record 64 nations will participate to determine which 48 teams will compete in the tournament next summer.
Here’s what you need to know:
The draw will divide the 48 teams into 12 groups of four, designated Group A, Group B… and so on, up to Group L. The balls corresponding to the competing countries will be divided into four pots of 12, and each group will include one team drawn from each pot.
Six of the balls in pot four do not correspond to any specific country because those World Cup spots won’t be determined until March.
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Four European teams will qualify via the UEFA qualifiers, and the two additional FIFA qualifiers will include teams from around the world.
The host countries – the United States, Mexico and Canada – are allowed to participate in the first pot. This is a significant advantage because it means they avoid being in a group with several of the best teams in the tournament.
The tournament expands from 32 teams to 48, and the draw will separate them into 12 groups of four.
The 12 groups in the World Cup round robin are designated Group A, Group B… and so on, up to Group L.
Mexico is already scheduled to be in Group A, Canada in Group B and the United States in Group D.
Match times will be announced on Saturday.
Will there still be a “Group of Death”?
The highest-ranked team yet to qualify for this World Cup is four-time champions Italy, ranked No. 12 by FIFA. The Italians still have a chance of qualifying via the UEFA A qualifiers, so the teams will likely be hoping to avoid ending up in the same group with this pot four.
In the past, World Cups have included what is known as a “group of death”, a group that appears unusually difficult depending on the luck of the draw. With more teams split into more groups – and with pots largely organized in descending order of FIFA ranking – there may not be an obvious Group of Death this time around.
But there are still substantial differences in the quality of the teams that could emerge from hat four, which includes the four European playoff winners (which could include No. 21 Italy and Denmark), as well as No. 86 New Zealand and World Cup newcomers Curacao and Cape Verde.
There is widespread speculation that it will be Trump, given his close relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his unsuccessful campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The new prize, awarded during the draw, will “reward exceptional actions in favor of peace”, football’s governing body said on Wednesday.
– With files from the Associated Press
© 2025 The Canadian Press
