The Brief

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be expanded to 48 teams, an increase from the traditional 32, and will feature 12 groups of four teams.

The host nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico — will automatically qualify for the tournament and have already been pre-assigned to their groups.

The draw will be seeded, with teams placed into different pots based on their FIFA World Ranking.

With the announcement of the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw taking place at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., many have begun to ask the question — "What is a World Cup draw?"

What we know:

What is a World Cup draw?

Simply put, the World Cup draw is a process that determines which qualified teams will play against each other in the group stage of the tournament. The group stage is the opening

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