World of Sports: 2026 World Cup draw guarantees entertaining competition

Largest ever tournament sees four debut nations

Ethan Klassen, Photo/Video Journalist

December 17, 2025

Welcome to World of Sports, The Feather’s revived sports column written by multiple sports enthusiasts. Our writers will be serving up tasty tidbits, hot takes on the latest sports trends and events, along with predictions about the world of sports beyond Fresno Christian Schools. Meet us here to explore the world of sports and to weigh in with your own opinions on these worldwide topics.

The FIFA World Cup will kick off in North America during the summer of 2026. Only this time, the tournament will be larger than ever before. Expanding from the usual 32-team format, this version will increase to 48 teams. Over the past year, a fierce, eventful qualifying tournament across all six soccer continents decided the nations that will compete for glory next summer. Because of the expanded format, the knockout stages will feature the top two teams in each group, along with the eight best third-place teams.

In 1994, FIFA brought the most popular athletic tournament, the World Cup, to the United States for the first time. The two best teams in the world at the time, Brazil and Italy, fought for the title of world champion in the Rose Bowl stadium. This match became the most-viewed sporting event in the United States at the time, recording a total of 4.5 million viewers from all over the nation. As a whole, no other tournament in history has seated as many fans as the 1994 World Cup had, totaling 3.8 million people.

Since then, the World Cup has been played all over the world, the most recent edition being held in Qatar during the winter of 2022. That tournament saw 35-year-old Lionel Messi and Argentina defeat 23-year-old Kylian Mbappe and France in the most entertaining soccer game in history.

The first three spots are automatically given to the three host nations: Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

The other 45 nations would be distributed from all over the world:

Europe (UEFA) – 16

Africa (CAF) – 9

Asia (AFC) – 8

South America (CONMEBOL) – 6

North America (CONCACAF) – 6

Oceania (OFC) – 1

FIFA Interconfederation playoffs – 2

Soccer Football – FIFA World Cup 2026 – FIFA World Cup 2026 Draw – John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., U.S. – December 5, 2025 U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney pose for a picture with FIFA President Gianni Infantino after drawing their respective countries during the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw Pool via REUTERS/Dan Mullan (REUTERS/via SNO Sites/DAN MULLAN)

On December 5, these nations were sorted into 12 groups of four during the World Cup Draw. Hosted at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the draw began with the leaders of the three host nations, Mark Carney (Prime Minister of Canada), Claudia Sheinbaum (President of Mexico), and Donald Trump (President of the United States) selecting their respective nations as the first three to be sorted into groups.

All 48 World Cup spots were placed into pots of 12 teams. The first pot contained the three hosts, along with the top nine-ranked qualified nations. Pots two and three followed suit, containing the top 24 ranked teams. Pot four consisted of the six lowest-ranked qualified teams, four UEFA playoff teams, and two interconfederation teams.

Afterwards, legends from the sporting world, Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Aaron Judge, and Wayne Gretzky sorted the remaining 45 nations.

The United States was placed with Australia, Paraguay, and a UEFA playoff team. Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, or Kosovo will fill the spot.

Sophomore and Fresno Christian soccer player Jackson Sullivan shows optimism for the United States National team next year despite recent struggles.

“I think that being a host will play a big part in [the United States’] victory, especially with Diego Luna on the team.” Sullivan said.

A common term used during the draw is “group of death.” This term refers to a group that contains multiple top nations. These are typically rare; however, when they do happen, there is a high possibility of one of the top t

eams getting eliminated early. Although there were no outright “groups of death” this year, Group L is statistically the hardest group to get out of. This group consists of the favorite England, 2018 runner-up Croatia, and dark horses Ghana and Panama.

Another debated group of death is Group I, which includes 2022 runner-up and 2018 winner France, African powerhouse Senegal, Norway (one of two European teams to finish qualifying with a perfect 8-0 record) and one of the interconfederation playoff winners (Iraq, Bolivia, or Suriname).

Argentina Captain Lionel Messi won his first FIFA World Cup in 2022 after playing professional soccer for 22 years. (Friedemann Vogel)

Reigning champions Argentina will start their championship campaign against Algeria before taking on the likes of Austria and Jordan. Captain Lionel Messi will be playing in his record-setting sixth World Cup, looking to break more records for goals and goal contributions.

Fourteen games will take place in California between two host sites, Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

Notable California matches:

June 12: USA v Paraguay – Los Angeles

June 18: Switzerland v UEFA playoff (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Los Angeles

June 21: Belgium v Iran – Los Angeles

June 25: USA v UEFA playoff (Turkey, Slovakia, Romania, Kosovo) – Los Angeles

June 25: Australia v Paraguay – Santa Clara

July 2: Round of 32 – Los Angeles

July 10: Quarterfinal – Los Angeles

FIFA President Gianni Infantino reflects on the magnitude that the World Cup brings to a host nation.

“From a global audience’s perspective, it’s the equivalent of 104 Super Bowls.” Infantino said.

Although this sounds like an exaggeration, each match of the 2022 World Cup had an average of 78 million viewers online. Super Bowl 59, on the other hand, recorded 127 million viewers.

Those looking to purchase tickets for this once in a lifetime experience will find great difficulty. For the first time ever, FIFA is implementing dynamic pricing for all of its World Cup tickets. This format means that ticket prices will fluctuate based on demand instead of having a fixed price. Because of this, people who have received tickets early through the past lottery system can resell their tickets at whatever price they want.

In 2022, the cheapest group stage ticket was sold for an average of $22. For next year’s tournament, the cheapest group stage ticket is $250 without dynamic pricing or ticket fees.

The 2026 World Cup will begin on June 11 and end with the final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 15.

About the Contributor

Ethan Klassen, Photo/Video Journalist

First year photojournalist Ethan Klassen, ‘27, excites over telling stories through the snap of a camera. Klassen enjoys playing soccer, learning history, and reading books. During his free time you can find him planning his next adventure or trying to finish up homework. After he graduates, Klassen hopes to solve mysteries as a Crime Scene Investigator.