2026 World Cup: the United States with Australia, Paraguay and the winner of a UEFA play-off

The United States, co-host country of the 2026 World Cup (with Canada and Mexico), will face Australia, Paraguay and a European team qualified through the UEFA play-offs (Kosovo, Romania, Turkey or Slovakia) following the draw carried out by FIFA at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC (USA), on Friday 05/12/2025.

The 2026 World Cup is the first edition with 48 teams (instead of 32 from 1998 to 2022), divided into 12 groups of four and 104 matches (64 in the previous format). The top two teams from each group and eight best third-place teams will progress to the Round of 32.

The 104 matches will be played in 11 American cities (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia and New York New Jersey), three Mexican cities (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) and two Canadian cities (Toronto and Vancouver).

The opening match (Mexico - South Africa) will be held in Mexico on 11/06/2026, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City (83,000 capacity), followed the next day by the first match of the competition in the United States…