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.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - 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 is a World Cup draw?

What we know:

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

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