Section-by-Section Breakdown for the 2026 Tournament

Pool A

The first fixture at the historic Azteca Stadium will echo the first game from 2010, when South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase history at the global showpiece includes just a single win, secured against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since hosting, finishing above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho awarded against them for using an suspended footballer.

This will represent South Korea's 11th successive finals appearance. Icon Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and finished in third place in the Best Player voting when South Korea reached the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and guided them unbeaten through a far from easy qualification section. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

Canada have made it for the World Cup twice and, while Qatar 2022 yielded their maiden goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the most talented squad in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How kind the group looks depends largely on whether the Italian national team make it through the European play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with experienced campaigners like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were handed a significant advantage by being chosen as a tournament host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland first World Cup in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they were defeated to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the knockout phase for the very first time after 8 previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the ordeal that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a doping test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti took over as Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a clear upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African sides, capable both of dominating rivals and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a 100% record.

Group D

At the start of last year, the USA seemed in a dismal state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will begin against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their sixth finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a record that has led to both group-stage eliminations and a quarter-final appearance. Their trademark cautious mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most free-flowing Australian side and their squad lacks obvious superstars, but in spite of an iffy start to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their final two matches. The group’s final team will emerge from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After successive group phase exits, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more progressive style has introduced a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualifying, finishing in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of constant pessimism, where nothing is ever quite good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualification, netting 25 goals without reply.

The smallest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the fourth team drawn, however, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it could have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the galacticos of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective performer with his national side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side made sure of a third consecutive World Cup appearance by topping a straightforward qualification group, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualification. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the European playoff (against Ukraine in the semi, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, scoring the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, finding goals easily at times, but also struggling to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most decorated side in African football history, but having failed to qualify during their peak period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite fulfilled their potential on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them attacking threat, but it was a defensive unit that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost once in a difficult third-round qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly