The draw for the 2026 World Cup – the largest edition of football’s global spectacle ever – will take place in Washington on Friday, with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to play a prominent role.
The expanded 48-team tournament, up from 32 nations at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, will unfold across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
Trump’s presence at the Kennedy Center ceremony highlights his close relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has frequently visited the White House and accompanied Trump to international summits since the North American bid secured the tournament in 2018.
Infantino’s relationship with Trump is widely expected to see the U.S. leader named the first recipient of a new FIFA Peace Prize, which will be awarded at the draw.
Trump has made the World Cup a centerpiece event of both his second presidency and the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence next year.
But he has not hesitated to bring domestic politics into the event, threatening to move World Cup matches from Democratic-run cities if he deems conditions "unsafe.”
In a sign of global tensions surrounding a World Cup that will have 11 of its 16 venues in the United States, Iran said it will boycott the draw because U.S. authorities refused to grant visas to several members of its delegation.
The president of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, said: "We have told the head of FIFA... that it is purely a political position and that FIFA must tell [Washington] to desist from this behavior.”
First-time qualifiers
The pretenders to the title that a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina won for the third time in 2022 in Qatar will be drawn into 12 groups.
Top seeds include Argentina, host nations the United States, Mexico and Canada, record five-time winners Brazil, two-time champions France, four-time winners Germany, as well as Spain, England, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be 41 when the tournament kicks off, has said his sixth World Cup finals with Portugal will be his last, and he would relish crowning his long career with a first global title for his country.
The expanded field also creates opportunities for a handful of first-time qualifiers, including Cape Verde, Jordan and the tiny Caribbean nation of Curaçao.
With six of the teams still to be decided in playoffs, favorites will want to avoid Italy, who won the World Cup as recently as 2006 but have not qualified since 2014. Despite an error-strewn qualification campaign, the Italians can still reach the finals by winning two sudden-death games.
The opening match will be held at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, which also hosted the 1970 and 1986 finals, before the tournament unfolds over nearly six weeks, culminating in the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Because of the tournament’s complexity, teams will learn the full details of their match venues and kickoff times on Saturday, a day after the draw.
Supporters’ groups have warned that fans could face eye-watering sums for tickets for the most attractive games due to FIFA’s decision to use dynamic ticket pricing.
Prices on popular secondary-market websites in the United States, such as StubHub and SeatGeek, have already skyrocketed, with tickets for the July 19 World Cup final in New Jersey starting at around $7,000.