TOURNAMENT DRAW: How it works, what to watch for, and what we already know | Powered by Moneris

At last, we’re about to find out who Canada is going to play at the 2026 FIFA World Cup — and a whole lot more.

The official World Cup Draw is on Friday afternoon, set for 12 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where all 12 groups will be set, and 42 teams will know their fate. Six teams are still to qualify via play-offs in March, but those spots will be allocated to groups as placeholders.

Participating teams have been seeded into four pots based primarily on the latest FIFA World Rankings. Host nations Canada, the United States and Mexico have been placed in Pot 1, and already know they’ll be the top seeds in Groups B, D and A, respectively. The six play-off winners are in Pot 4.

Each group will have one team from each of the four pots, with no more than one team from any single confederation (except for UEFA; every group will have one European team, and four will have two). The draw will be conducted first by drawing each Pot 1 team into a group, followed by each team in Pot 2, and so on.

For the first time, FIFA has made a provision in the draw that the two top-ranked teams — Argentina and Spain — must be placed in groups on opposite sides of the bracket, so they couldn't meet in a knockout match until the final (if they both win their group, that is). The same is true of the third and fourth sides in the rankings, France and England, who will likewise be separated.

FIFA will unveil the entire match schedule on Saturday. The full list of pots, and more info on how the draw works, is available here.

There’s a bit more that Friday’s draw might tell us, though. Here are a few extra things to keep an eye on.

Who can Canada actually draw?

It’s not completely random. As mentioned, no two teams from the same confederation (except for UEFA) can be drawn in the same group.

That complicates things a little, since the three hosts are all from Concacaf, with three other teams — Panama, Curaçao and Haiti — also in the tournament. Jamaica and Suriname are also still eligible to qualify via the play-offs.

Canada therefore can’t draw Panama from Pot 3, so they’ll get one of the other 11 teams from that list.

It gets more interesting in Pot 4, though. Canada can’t draw Curaçao or Haiti, obviously. However, because there are Concacaf teams in both of the FIFA play-off paths, Canada won’t be able to draw either of those placeholders either (eliminating not just Jamaica and Suriname, but Bolivia, Iraq, New Caledonia and DR Congo).

That leaves us with eight possible Pot 4 opponents: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, New Zealand, and the four UEFA play-off spots. By the time we get to drawing from Pot 4, some of those will probably already be impossible too; if Canada get European sides from Pots 2 and 3, they can’t get another UEFA team. If they draw a side from the AFC or CAF, their odds of getting a European side (such as Italy, Denmark or Turkey) skyrocket.

Of course, it could always be New Zealand.

Canada's full group schedule

Here’s what we already know about Canada’s group stage. They’re the top seed in Group B, and will play their first match in Toronto, before heading to Vancouver for the next two games.

However, in this year’s draw, FIFA has pre-allocated the spot in each group that teams will be assigned to, which dictates the order teams play each other.

To avoid confusion: the draw features four pots, numbered 1 to 4. Those are not the same as a team’s “position” in their group, which is also numbered 1 to 4.

Each Pot 1 team is also Position 1 in their group, but the other three differ from group to group. 

For example, in Canada’s group, Position 2 will be the team from Pot 4, Position 3 from Pot 3, and Position 4 from Pot 2.

Canada will open their World Cup in Toronto against their Pot 4 opponent on June 12. They’ll play Pot 3 in Vancouver on June 18, and finish against Pot 2 (possibly their toughest game) on June 24.

The United States and Mexico, meanwhile, will play against Pot 3, Pot 2 and Pot 4, in that order.

Other matches in Canada

We won’t know the full schedule of the 10 group stage matches until Saturday, when FIFA releases the finalized fixture list. However, we do know where each group is assigned to play.

Aside from Canada’s opening match (June 12), Toronto is slated to host two games from Group L (June 17 and 23), and one from Group E (June 20) and I (June 26). We’ll find out which teams exactly on Saturday, but the draw will provide a clearer picture of who might be coming to town.

Vancouver, meanwhile, will actually know a little bit more. Obviously, Canada will play there twice (June 18 vs. Pot 3, June 24 vs. Pot 2). The first match in Vancouver, however, will actually feature two teams from the United States’ Group D.

Since the USMNT will be playing their Pot 3 opponent in Los Angeles on June 12, Vancouver will play host to the Pot 2 and Pot 4 sides from Group D on June 13.

BC Place will also see two matches from Group G (June 21 and 26).

The knockout stage gets a little more complicated, since it’s even harder to project which teams will finish where, but we do know dates and can start to imagine who might play in Canada.

Toronto’s round of 32 match on July 2 will pit the runners-up of Groups K and L against one another. Vancouver’s, meanwhile — to be played on the same day — will feature the winner of Group B against a third-place side.

If Canada win their group, they’ll play their first knockout match at home in Vancouver. If they win that round of 32 match, they’d then play the round of 16 at BC Place as well.

What are the best and worst possibilities?

Based solely on FIFA rankings, the toughest possible Group B that Canada could draw would probably be Morocco (11th), Norway (29th) and Italy (12th).

Since Canada are guaranteed to get at least one, if not two European teams, they might prefer to avoid one from Pot 2 — Croatia, Switzerland or Austria — although Norway from Pot 3 looked incredible in qualifying. Pot 4 provides the wrinkle, where the UEFA play-offs feature some strong sides.

Italy, Turkey and Denmark all sit above Canada in the FIFA World Rankings. No other teams in Pot 3 or 4 are above Canada’s 27th, so they’d be particularly unlucky to get one of those opponents, and have to play two sides above them despite being hosts.

There are no easy games at a World Cup, but the easiest draw (by rankings) that Canada could get probably involves Austria (24) or Australia (26), South Africa (61), and either New Zealand (86) or Kosovo (80). Because of the draw restrictions, Canada couldn’t possibly get New Caledonia, who at 149th would be the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.

Regardless of what happens, Canada will play some world class teams, but they'll enjoy the benefits of being a Pot 1 side. They won't get any of the tournament favourites in the group stage, which gives them a golden opportunity to make a deep run on home soil.