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The World Cup is about so much more than just the football. FIFA's pricing structure for next summer's tournament ignores that Sebastian Stafford-Bloor339 Max Verstappen on new Fanatics deal, what he collects and ambitions to create a museum Andrew Mackie22 In praise of Clarence Seedorf, one of TV's most compelling football pundits Nick Miller80 Plotting a dream World Cup group-stage itinerary: Five games, four cities, 16 days Felipe Cardenas33 World Cup 2026: Who is most likely to win now that we know the draw? Re-ranking all 64 teams Nick Miller and Tim Spiers321 Advertisement The Athletic's writers look ahead to the 2026 World Cup, after the 12 groups were drawn in Washington DC on Friday Oliver Kay, Michael Cox and more165 Everything you need to know about Group F at next summer's tournament Ahmed Walid, Carl Anka and more POWERED BY NEW Netherlan International Football Team Orange knitted Scarf W/ Tassels #328 1 available $14. 90 View Listing USED Holland Netherlands International Football Soccer Club Team Scarf Fan Souvenir 1 available $24. 95 View Listing NO CONDITION LISTED reproduction all EURO 2024 european championship final PERSONALISED ticket [RMT] 1 available $6. 71 View Listing USED VAN NISTELROOY #9 NETHERLAND Soccer Official Home 2008 Orange XL Jersey KNVB 1 available $44. 99 View Listing How do the teams play? Who is their star player? What can we expect from them when the tournament starts? Michael Cox, Jack Lang and more144 On Friday, soccer fans across the world will get an answer to the question they have asked for months: Who are we playing in the men’s World Cup?
To help prepare you for the World Cup draw, The Athletic made this simulator. It allows you to play out an unlimited number of draws and see all possible groups for the team you support.
Your team:
United States
At your command, it will let you create as many draws as you want. And it will tell you whether the group drawn is particularly weak or strong.
We’ll start you off with a random draw:
Group A
Mexico
Mexico
Tunisia
Tunisia
Colombia. .. Ryan Best, Henry Bushnell and more Advertisement The 2026 World Cup draw is expected to begin at noon Eastern time on Friday, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. We will update the results live on this page throughout the draw.
Draw starts in 16h, 18 min. , 55 sec.
Group A
Mexico
Mexico
Group B
Canada
Canada
Group C
Group D
United States
United States
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H
Group I
Group J
Group K
Group L
Pot 1
Argentina
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
England
France
Germany
Mexico
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
United States
Pot 2
Australia
Austria
Colombia
Croatia
Ecuador
Iran
Japan
Morocco
Senegal
South Korea
Switzerland
Uruguay
Pot 3. .. Thomas Oide, Ryan Best and more4 Since the announcement of the transfer, the striker and club captain has been the target of frustration and protests from Strasbourg fans. Nnamdi Onyeagwara18 Our writers attempt the impossible - ordering the best players who are in with a chance of being at the tournament in North America Nick Miller and Tim Spiers305 Impress your friends with some weird and wonderful knowledge about the countries involved in Friday's World Cup draw Will Jeanes65 Ajax described the incident as "downright scandalous" and "unacceptable", and promised to identify and sanction the perpetrators. Ali Rampling89 Verbruggen explains why he's very happy with the 'personality' and goalkeeping group at Brighton - and his 'boyhood dream' to come next year Andy Naylor5 Advertisement Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are just the latest players to be subjected to one of the game's most damning criticisms Stuart James and Adam Leventhal163 Ajax have reverted to the hand-drawn badge of the ancient Greek mythological hero the club is named after, which was introduced in 1928 Elias Burke23 The Dutch teenager is a superb technician and has been likened to Pedri by national team coach Ronald Koeman Conor O'Neill31 The Liverpool captain's public statements and actions over the last week have given an insight into him as a leader Andy Jones and Gregg Evans97 Heitinga leaves Ajax fourth in Eredivisie and bottom of the Champions League league phase standings. Luke Bosher88 Part three of The Athletic's series on football formations takes a close look at the 4-3-3 formation. Conor O'Neill12 Advertisement He's played under and worked with Premier League coaching royalty. The Athletic went along to see how he's getting on at Feyenoord Art de Roché58 The 28-year-old's previous deal was set to expire in June 2026. Pol Ballús30 Gravenberch was replaced at half-time during the Netherlands' World Cup qualifying victory over Finland. James Pearce54 Michael Cox's history of World Cup winners reaches Argentina's triumph on home turf in 1978 Michael Cox67 See More