Ahead of the play-offs in March, the 2026 World Cup draw was held in Washington DC today. Should Italy make it through the play-offs, they will be placed into Group B alongside hosts Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland. The Azzurri take on Northern Ireland in Bergamo in the play-off semi-final on 26 March, and the final will be against the winner of Wales v Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 March.

FROM BOCELLI TO TRUMP. There was plenty of celebrity presence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, starting with POTUS Donald Trump. Andrea Bocelli gave a rendition of “Nessun Dorma” to commence the ceremony. An enthusiastic Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, presented Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize. “It will be the biggest World Cup ever, the biggest sporting event the world has ever seen and will ever see,” Infantino declared. “We will have a great summer. Seven million people will come to watch the games, and six billion will be watching on from around the globe. The language of football is the language of passion, love, and joy. FIFA has been humanity’s official provider of joy for over a hundred years. Donald Trump said, “As a kid, I watched Pelé, one of the best. I recognise that this is football, we should have called American football something else.”

EXTENDED FORMAT. Next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA, which runs from 11 June to 19 June, is the first in history to be hosted by three nations and to include 48 teams, with 104 games in 16 cities. FIFA will reveal the fixture schedule tomorrow at 18:00 CET. The top-two teams in each of the 12 groups and the eight best third-placed teams will go through to the round of 32. We will then have the round 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final in New York on Sunday 19 July.

 

WORLD CUP GROUPS

GROUP A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Play-off D Winner
GROUP B: Canada, Play-off A Winner, Qatar, Switzerland
GROUP C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
GROUP D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Play-off C Winner
GROUP E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
GROUP F: Netherlands, Japan, Play-off B Winner, Tunisia
GROUP G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
GROUP H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
GROUP I: France, Senegal, Play-off 2 Winner, Norway
GROUP J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
GROUP K: Portugal, Play-off 1 Winner, Uzbekistan, Colombia
GROUP L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama