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2026 World Cup in North America: Step 2 - the draw


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Posted

Well we are almost there. We have 42 of 48 spots decided for the World Cup.

 

r/soccer - After today's matches 42 of the 48 participants for the 2026 FIFA World Cup have been decided.

 

Next for the whole tournament is the draw. That is going to be held Dec 5 at Noon Eastern. Needless to say the world will be watching.

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Posted (edited)

There is the matter of the last 6 spots up for grabs, 4 from UEFA and 2 from the Intercontinental playoffs. These will be drawn tomorrow (7 AM eastern) and contested in the March window.

What do we have?

UEFA

There are 16 teams vying for the last 4 UEFA spots.

image.png.99026d5b893247703d050869c2388c17.png

They will be placed in 4 brackets, with the winners going to the World Cup. Each bracket will be:

image.png.a0a9c7f36094e489ec71723fc5955a05.png

In the Semis Pot 1 and 2 teams will host. Tomorrow's draw will also determine the host for the Final of each bracket.

Pretty straight forward.

Intercontinental playoff

There are 6 teams vying for two spots.

image.png.8f912e8e7ad391e809d2a80b8ef0831b.png

This format is a touch more complicated. In this case the top two world ranked teams, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq, automatically advance to the finals. While the remaining 4 teams will be drawn head to head to face the winners. Another key thing: Jamaica and Suriname cannot meet in the semi-finals, so the semis will either be Jamaica-Bolivia / Suriname-New Caledonia or Jamaica-New Caledonia / Bolivia-Suriname.

These will also be neutral site matches. Word broke recently that they will be played in Guadalajara and Monterrey.

The brackets look like this:

image.png.22a47dbc472e5fde0c1cdc939917ea42.png

 

Edited by Captain Ron
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Posted (edited)

this was in a bbc article on scotland's qualification

the venues are already known if you draw in to these groups

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Group A: Guadalajara, Monterrey, Mexico City (Mexico), Atlanta (US)

Group B: Toronto, Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle (US)

Group 😄 Atlanta, Boston, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia (US)

Group 😧 Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle (US)

Group E: Toronto (Canada), Houston, Kansas, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia (US)

Group F: Monterrey (Mexico), Dallas, Houston, Kansas (US)

Group G: Vancouver (Canada), Los Angeles, Seattle (US)

Group H: Guadalajara (Mexico), Atlanta, Houston, Miami (US)

Group I: Toronto (Canada), Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia (US)

Group J: Dallas, Kansas, San Francisco (US)

Group K: Guadalajara, Mexico City (Mexico), Atlanta, Houston, Miami (USA)

Group L: Toronto (Canada), Dallas, New York/New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia (USA)

+++

groups entirely in the us: C, J

groups requiring us/canada crossings: B, D, E, G, I, L

groups requiring us/mexico crossings: A, F, H, K

ths us must be in group B given we open on the 2nd day of the tournament and our match days are preset:

lax/sofi 12 june
SEVEN DAYS OFF
sea/lumen 19 june
SIX DAYS OFF
lax/sofi 25 june

with 12 groups the era of 3 matches in 10 days is over - in korea we played all 3 group games in 9 days with 5 and 4 days between portugal/korea and korea/poland

Edited by Hagbard Celine
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Posted
2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

Rough draw for both CONCACAF teams. Suriname in the semis, Jamaica in the finals. 
 

image.thumb.png.d20cc0de1238fe9f2c0af3438b385663.png

I wanted Suriname AND Bolivia to make it. 

Bolivians are not held in the highest esteem in Argentina due in large part to racism and I could see the same in Chile and maybe Brazil. 

So I’m pulling for Bolivia to play their playoff matches at altitude in Guadalajara. 

Posted

I had to straighten up after dropping the kiddo off, I couildn't post this until now. This is how the brackets feeds into the finals too, so The winners of the top match will host the final in each bracket (LOL Italy).

image.thumb.png.782844de343aa518ab9f60ae7ce133bb.png

 

Posted
16 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

I wanted Suriname AND Bolivia to make it. 

Bolivians are not held in the highest esteem in Argentina due in large part to racism and I could see the same in Chile and maybe Brazil. 

So I’m pulling for Bolivia to play their playoff matches at altitude in Guadalajara. 

I was hoping that Suriname would draw New Caledonia for the easier game, but no luck. I don't see how they get past Bolivia.

Jamaica should walk over New Caledonia.

The finals are a hard call, but I agree with you about Bolivia If they are in Guadalajara.

Posted

estadios jalisco and akron are at 5138' and 5128'

that's feet not metres

estadio hernando siles is at 11752' which is actually just above the 'high altitude line' at 11500'

bolivia are ranked #83

the non-qualifiers and their current ranking per the wiki

peru #21

chile #32

venezuela #57

in conmebol qualifying on the road, not at altitude, against the 6 qualified nations already qualified from conmebol, they went 0-6, scored 1 goal, conceded 22

the actually went 2-1 away against the 3 eliminated nations (chi/per/ven), 6 for, 3 against, which is how they qualified

suriname is #123 so on paper this looks a forgone conclusion but i would not put money on this result, especially if they get monterrey (acero gigante at 1620')

 

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