How does the World Cup draw work? The AP explains FIFA's process for dividing teams into groups

WASHINGTON (AP) — The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place Friday at the Kennedy Center, for the purpose of dividing the 48-team field into 12 groups of four. Once the tournament starts, 32 teams will advance from those preliminary groups to the single-elimination knockout rounds.

The 12 round-robin World Cup groups are designated Group A, Group B ... and so on, down to Group L.

Here’s an explanation of how the draw works.

Balls corresponding with the competing countries will be separated into four pots of 12, and each group will include one team drawn from each pot. The pots are as follows, with each team's current FIFA ranking in parentheses.

Pot 1 — Spain (1), Argentina (2), France (3), England (4), Brazil (5), Portugal (6), Netherlands (7), Belgium (8), Germany (9), United States (14), Mexico (15), Canada (27).

Pot 2 — Croatia (10), Morocco (11), Colombia (13), Uruguay (16), Switzerland (17), Japan (18), Senegal (19), Iran (20), South Korea (22), Ecuador (23), Austria (24), Australia (26).

Pot 3 — Norway (29), Panama (30), Egypt (34), Algeria (35), Scotland (36), Paraguay (39), Tunisia (40), Ivory Coast (42), Uzbekistan (60), Qatar (51), Saudi Arabia (60), South Africa (61).

Pot 4 — Jordan (66), Cape Verde (68), Ghana (72), Curaçao (82), Haiti (84), New Zealand (86), UEFA Playoff A, UEFA Playoff B, UEFA Playoff C, UEFA Playoff D, FIFA Playoff 1, FIFA Playoff 2.

The host countries — the U.S., Mexico and Canada — are allowed into pot 1. That's a significant perk because it means they avoid being in a group with several of the tournament's top teams. It has already been determined that Mexico will be put in Group A, Canada in Group B and the U.S. in Group D.

Also, the top four teams in the FIFA ranking — Spain, Argentina, France and England — will be drawn in such a way that, should they win their groups, they would not face each other before the semifinals.

Six of the balls in pot 4 do not correspond with any specific country. That's because six spots at the World Cup won't be determined until March. Four European teams will qualify via the UEFA playoffs, and the additional two FIFA playoffs will include teams from all over the world.

The UEFA Playoff A winner will be either Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina. UEFA Playoff B will be contested by Ukraine, Sweden, Poland and Albania, UEFA Playoff C by Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo, and UEFA Playoff D by Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland.

New Caledonia, Jamaica and Congo will compete in FIFA Playoff 1, and Bolivia, Suriname and Iraq in FIFA Playoff 2.

Italy, a four-time World Cup champion, actually hasn't qualified since 2014! But the Italians — currently ranked 12th in the world — still have a shot to make it this time. So teams this week are likely hoping to avoid being drawn into a group with the UEFA Playoff A placeholder.

The draw will be conducted while keeping some additional requirements in mind:

— Each group must have at least one European team, but no more than two.

— Aside from UEFA (Europe), no two teams from the same confederation can be in the same group. The other confederations are the AFC (Asia) and CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America) and the OFC (Oceania).

(In a couple quirks of global soccer, Suriname plays in CONCACAF and Australia plays in the AFC — but New Zealand is part of the OFC.)

Although the pots are largely in descending order of FIFA ranking, there's still plenty of potential variance in how challenging a group might be, especially since pot 4 could yield either a traditional power like Italy or a World Cup newcomer like Curaçao.

Argentina, Morocco, Norway and Italy — if it qualifies — could be a particularly challenging group.

Canada, Austria, South Africa and New Zealand would seem a lot less imposing.

There is a full reveal of venues and game times set for Saturday, although game dates for the three host countries have already been revealed.

Canada: June 12 (Toronto), June 18 (Vancouver) and June 24 (Vancouver).

Mexico: June 11 (Mexico City), June 18 (Guadalajara) and June 24 (Mexico City).

United States: June 12 (Los Angeles), June 19 (Seattle) and June 25 (Los Angeles).

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

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff draw in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Claudio Thoma/Keystone via AP)

FILE - The Hall of Nations at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, file)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks holding a large ticket representing a ticket for the World Cup final, row one, seat one, as Andrew Giuliani, from left, Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, Vice President JD Vance, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Aug. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)

TOKYO (AP) — Asian markets that were open for trading mostly rose Monday, as investors continued to closely watch the war in Iran, soaring oil prices and what President Donald Trump might say next.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 53,514.39 in afternoon trading. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.4% to 5,450.33. Trading was closed in Australia for Easter, and in Hong Kong and Shanghai for a traditional Chinese holiday.

Trump threatened to hit Iran’s critical infrastructure hard if the country’s government doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline. But there was no sign Iran was easing its closure of the strait crucial to global oil supplies.

The market is keeping focused on oil prices.

Benchmark U.S. crude lost 42 cents to $111.12 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 64 cents to $109.67 a barrel. Energy markets were closed Friday, but the prices have been surging lately on fears that the Iran war will drag on longer than expected.

The U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market. Some nations, like resource-poor Japan, import a large portion of their energy needs and rely heavily on access to the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers recently that Japan was releasing its reserves and was working on alternative routes. South Korea's trade ministry said it plans to send at least five ships to Saudi Arabi in the coming weeks to establish new oil transport routes in the Red Sea.

“As we kick off the first full trading week of April, the word uncertainty is paramount. Last year it was centered on the impact of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, this year it's uncertainty surrounding the ongoing Iranian War,” said Jay Woods, analyst at Freedom Capital Markets in New York.

U.S. markets were closed for Good Friday and will reopen Monday. Some markets in Europe also did not trade on Friday.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.56 Japanese yen Monday from 159.63. The euro cost $1.1523, up from $1.1517.

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul and Matt Ott in Washington contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a screen as traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)