2026 World Cup draw can separate top-ranked Spain, Argentina, France and England until semifinals

GENEVA (AP) — The 2026 World Cup draw next week will reward the four highest-ranked teams — Spain, Argentina, France and England — who will be placed in separate sections of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.

FIFA said Tuesday the top four teams in the latest men’s rankings will, if they finish top of their respective round-robin groups, avoid each other until the semifinals of the June 11-July 19 tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Defending champion Argentina with Lionel Messi and top-ranked European champion Spain with Lamine Yamal therefore can ensure they do not meet until the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.

“To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semifinals have been established,” FIFA said in a statement, aiming to reward teams whose consistent good results have raised their world ranking.

At previous World Cups, the path for teams into and through the knockout phase was decided by which group they were drawn into.

The draw ceremony for the first 48-team World Cup will be held Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The 42 teams that already qualified include Iran and Haiti which FIFA expects will play exactly where they are drawn regardless of complicated politics those countries have with the U.S. The 16 host venues for the 104 games include 11 cities with NFL stadiums in the U.S., three in Mexico and two in Canada.

The other six entries will be decided in March when European and global playoffs brackets are scheduled, and those teams all will come out of the draw pot of lowest-ranked teams.

That means four-time champion Italy could be a dangerous option in the draw on Friday of next week that will set the match schedule by placing teams in 12 round-robin groups of four teams each.

Europe has 16 teams in the lineup and a maximum of two can be drawn into any one group. The other 32 teams in the tournament cannot be drawn in a group with a team from the same continent.

The three co-hosts are among the 12 top seeds in the draw, which is scheduled to take about 45 minutes during a show lasting about an hour and a half, FIFA said. The U.S. will open on June 12 against a team from pot 3, then face a team from pot 2 and close the group stage against a team from pot 4.

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World Cup draw seedings

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

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

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

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European playoff winner 1, European playoff winner 2, European playoff winner 3, European playoff winner 4, Intercontinental playoff winner 1, Intercontinental playoff winner 2.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer