World Cup draw: Date, start time, how it works and will England be seeded?

Michael Lee • 15 Oct 2025

England have qualified for the 2026 World Cup with a thumping 5-0 win over Latvia and we’ve projected the seedings for December’s finals draw.

Thomas Tuchel’s side needed just one more victory to wrap up top spot in Group K and seal their place at the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer with two games to spare.

England have not missed a major tournament since 2008 and, along with the likes of Argentina, France and Spain, will be among the favourites to lift the trophy next summer at their eighth consecutive World Cup.

We’ve gathered together all the relevant information you’ll need ahead of the draw.

When is the World Cup draw?

The draw for the expanded 2026 World Cup – the first to feature 48 teams – will take place in Washington, D.C. on Friday, December 5. It will begin at 5pm GMT at the Kennedy Center.

How to watch the World Cup draw

Live stream: The draw will be broadcast live and for free on FIFA’s official YouTube channel. The BBC usually broadcasts the event in the UK.

What pot will England be in?

There will be four pots of 12 teams. The usual confederation restrictions apply; only one team from each confederation can be drawn in the same group, with the exception of UEFA who are allowed a maximum of two.

England are guaranteed to be in pot one due to their high FIFA World Ranking. This will ensure they avoid teams such as Brazil, Argentina and Spain in the group stage.

The composition of the other pots are projected as follows. These will change once more countries confirm their qualification in November:

Pot One: Canada (host), Mexico (host), United States (host), Argentina, England, Brazil

Pot Two: Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Senegal, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Australia

Pot Three: Egypt, Algeria, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, South Africa

Pot Four: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, New Zealand

Who could qualify next?

In Europe there are 12 groups, with the winners of each qualifying automatically for the World Cup and the 12 runners-up going into play-offs with the four best-ranked UEFA Nations League group winners that have not already qualified. Four extra spots are on offer.

Portugal, Switzerland and France are hot favourites to qualify, while Croatia and Norway are all but there because of their superior goal difference.

Spain, the Netherlands and Austria are all also closing in on automatic qualification. Germany, Denmark and Belgium are top of their sections, but still have work to do.

In Africa, Gabon, the DR Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria were the four best group runners-up and will now enter a play-off to determine who will be CAF’s sole representative at the wider inter-confederation play-offs, coming up in March.

Bolivia are into those latter play-offs as the seventh-placed finishers in South America, along with Oceania’s New Caledonia.

In Asia, the United Arab Emirates will play Iraq in November to determine AFC’s representative in the inter-confederation play-offs.

CONCACAF will also send three more teams to the finals. Suriname, Jamaica and Honduras are currently in the box seat there.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 15 biggest nations to have never qualified for the World Cup?

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