FIFA defined this Tuesday the four pots of national teams and the rules that will be used in the 2026 World Cup draw on December 5 in Washington DC.

Until Now eight Latin American teams have already qualified: Mexico, automatically as co-host, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. One more team from the region, Bolivia, still has a chance to qualify through the inter-confederation play-offs to be played next year. In total, 42 teams have already confirmed their participation in the World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, which will be played from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Six more spots are still to be decided in the playoffs. In a statement released Tuesday, FIFA announced the composition of the four pots for the December 5 draw, from which the 12 groups of the 48 participating teams will be drawn, as well as rules to prevent teams with higher rankings in the current world standings from being drawn against each other. Mexico, as the host nation, was placed in Pot 1. and will be the top seed in the group, which is where they will be placed directly in the draw. Argentina is also in that pot, being one of the highest-ranked teams in the world and the reigning champion.

Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay were placed in Pot 2, also due to their world ranking.

Panama and Paraguay are in Pot 3.

And if they qualify, Bolivia will be included in Pot 4, where other CONCACAF teams (Haiti and Curacao) are already located, and to which Jamaica or Suriname could also be added.

How will the draw work?

FIFA will conduct the draw on December 5 in Washington, D.C., beginning with the selection of the top seeds from Pot 1 of the 12 groups.

The co-hosts Mexico (A1), Canada (B1), and the United States (D1) will have colored balls with their flags to indicate their special status. Their positions in the group will be predetermined.Therefore, they will play all their matches in their own countries.

Then the teams that are drawn will go into the first available group in alphabetical order. The draw computer will ensure that four teams – Spain, Argentina, France, and England – are in groups that do not meet until the semifinals or the final. These teams receive special treatment as they currently hold the highest FIFA World Rankings. The remaining teams will then be drawn from Pot 2, Pot 3, and finally Pot 4. Unlike previous draws, and to expedite the process, countries will not have to wait for their group position to be drawn, which determines the order of matches. Instead, the seeded countries will all be placed in position one, and a predetermined random table will determine the positions of the other countries in the group to create the initial match schedule. The European exception: The rules state that no group can contain more than one country from the same confederation. Thus, for example, when Colombia is drawn from Pot 2, it cannot be drawn into a group with Argentina or Brazil. This applies to all pots, with the exception that four groups will have two European nations, since there are 16 teams from the old continent that must be divided into 12 groups. The four remaining UEFA World Cup berths will be contested by 16 teams in their own playoff: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovakia, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine. Furthermore, two World Cup berths will be decided in a playoff between Bolivia, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Suriname. Although the dates and order of the matches will be known when the draw takes place, the venues and kickoff times will not be confirmed until Saturday, June 6. December.

For the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has decided that the four highest-ranked countries currently cannot face each other until the semifinals or the final, a system used in other sports but which will be used for the first time in the World Cup.