President Trump, Tom Brady and other sports legends reveal 2026 FIFA World Cup groups
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FIFA revealed its World Cup groups at a star-studded event in Washington, DC, on Friday.
With the help of President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, NFL legend Tom Brady, NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and NHL all-time great Wayne Gretzky, the 12 groups were announced.
They randomly selected balls containing the names of the countries and assigned their selections to their groups. Trump, Sheinbaum and Carney chose the names of their own countries to begin the process.
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President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hold their countries’ cards during the 2026 World Cup soccer draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington on December 5, 2025. (Stephanie Scarbrough, pool/AP photo)
Brady selected the teams from Pot 1, O’Neal chose the teams from Pot 2, and Judge and Gretzky had Pots 3 and 4, respectively.
While the groups were created on Friday, six of the 48 participating teams will not be known until March 2026. Four of them will come from the 16-team UEFA playoffs.
The countries competing in the UEFA playoffs are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.
The remaining two spots will be decided in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Tournament. The six teams competing in that tournament are Bolivia, DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.
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(L-R) FIFA President Gianni Infantino, US President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum take the stage during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025. (Stephanie Scarbrough/Pool/News)
Below are the 12 groups:
Group A
Mexico
South Africa
Republic of Korea
UEFA Playoff D winner
Group B
Canada
UEFA A playoff winner
Qatar
Swiss
Group C
Brazil
Morocco
Haiti
Scotland
Group D
USA
Paraguay
Australia
UEFA Playoff C winner
Group E
Germany
Curacao
Ivory Coast
Ecuador
Group F
Netherlands
Japan
UEFA Playoff B winner
Tunisia
Group G
Belgium
Egypt
IR Iran
New Zealand
Group H
Spain
Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia
Uruguay
group me
France
Senegal
FIFA Playoff 2 Winner
Norway
Group J
Argentina
Algeria
Austria
Jordan
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Alejandro Zendejas (17) scores a goal and celebrates with Max Arfsten (18), Cristian Roldan (24) and Christian Pulisic (10) during an international friendly match between Japan and USMNT at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, on September 9, 2025. (Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Group K
Portugal
FIFA 1 Qualifiers Winner
Uzbekistan
Colombia
Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama
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Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for News Digital.