World Cup draw: Who is in each pot of the draw?

World Cup draw: Who is in each pot? See the distribution of nations and who could be in England's path.

The 2026 World Cup final phase only takes place in June and July next year, but the World Cup atmosphere has been arriving more and more and will become even more intense with the group draw, which takes place on 5th December in Washington, United States.

Although we do not have all the nations defined yet, the November FIFA international break made the pot division for the draw quite clear. The pots are divided according to the position of the qualified nations in the FIFA Ranking.

Where and when will the World Cup draw be?

Date: 5th December 2025 Time: 6pm (UK time) Location: Kennedy Center, Washington, United States

Check the nations already confirmed in World Cup pots

Pot 1 Canada, United States, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2 Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3 Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Tunisia, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4 Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, Winner of play-off 1 (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina), Winner of play-off 2 (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland or Albania), Winner of play-off 3 (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo), Winner of play-off 4 (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic or Republic of Ireland), Winner of play-off 5 (New Caledonia, Jamaica or DR Congo), Winner of play-off 6 (Bolivia, Suriname or Iraq)

Where do the play-off nations go?

FIFA revealed this Tuesday (25th) the destination of the nations who will go to the World Cup through the play-offs: they will maintain the previous pattern, and all will go to Pot 4, just as happened until the last World Cup edition in 2022.

There was a rumour of the possibility that FIFA would establish spaces in other pots for these nations, with the pot being defined by the place where the best-ranked nation in the group would be if they qualified directly.

For example, as Italy are 12th in the FIFA ranking, if they qualified, they would go to Pot 2. However, it was confirmed that, regardless of ranking position, all those qualified through the play-offs go to the last pot.

European play-offs know their fixtures

With the end of the first phase of European qualifying, the continent confirmed 12 of its World Cup representatives. Another four places will be decided through a play-off involving 16 nations.

The draw took place last Thursday (20th), with the formation of four paths with a semi-final and final to decide each of the four tournament places.

Path A Italy vs Northern Ireland Wales vs Bosnia-Herzegovina

Path B Ukraine vs Sweden Poland vs Albania

Path C Turkey vs Romania Slovakia vs Kosovo

Path D Denmark vs North Macedonia Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland

Nations in bold will be at home in the first match, which is the semi-final. The winners face each other in the final.

New global play-off also has its participants

For the "new World Cup", FIFA created a new mini tournament to give a last chance to nations from other continents. Six countries will gather in Mexico in March to decide the last World Cup places.

There will be two places, with each path having a semi-final and a final to determine the World Cup participants.

The play-off format is organised based on the FIFA Ranking of the six qualified nations:

• The two best-ranked countries in the FIFA Ranking (DR Congo and Iraq) advance directly to the finals
• The four remaining countries (with worse ranking) compete in the semi-finals. The fixtures of this first phase were determined by draw
• The winners of the two semi-finals will each face one of the two pre-qualified countries in the respective finals

See the matches:

Semi-final 1: New Caledonia vs Jamaica Final 1: New Caledonia or Jamaica vs DR Congo

Semi-final 2: Bolivia vs Suriname Final 2: Bolivia or Suriname vs Iraq

This article was originally published on Top Mercato.