2026 World Cup draw: England and Scotland learn fate in celebration of football, Trump
England will face Croatia, Panama and Ghana in Group L at the 2026 World Cup in North America next summer.
Thomas Tuchel’s side will kick off their attempt to end 60 years of hurt with a repeat of the 2018 semi-final against Croatia in Dallas or Toronto on June 17. England meet Ghana on June 23. They will conclude the group stage against Panama – who they beat 6-1 in the 2018 group stage – on June 27.
The venues and kick-off times will be confirmed on Saturday.
As one of the top four seeds, England were kept in separate quarters of the draw from Spain, Argentina and France. If all four of the top seeds win their groups they cannot meet each other until the semi-finals.
Should England win Group L they will play a third-placed team in the last 32. The last 16, should they get there, could be against co-hosts Mexico with Brazil – or indeed Scotland – among potential quarter-final opponents.
Scotland are back in the World Cup for the first time since 1998 and will play Brazil, Morocco and Haiti in Group C as they bid to make it beyond the group stage for the first time in their history. They will kick off against Haiti, possibly in New York.
The first game of the World Cup will be Mexico v South Africa on June 11 in Mexico City. It’s a repeat of the opening fixture from the 2010 World Cup, when South Africa were the hosts.
You can see how the full 48-team World Cup works here.
There are six placeholders in the draw to represent the six remaining unknown qualifiers. There are two from the Inter-confederation play-offs, and four from the UEFA play-offs. Full details of both the UEFA and Inter-confederation play-offs can be found here.
Full 2026 World Cup group-stage draw
Group A
Mexico
South Africa
South Korea
UEFA Play-off D (Denmark, Czechia, Ireland or North Macedonia)
Group B
Canada
UEFA Play-off A (Italy, Wales, Bosnia or Northern Ireland)
Qatar
Switzerland
Group C
Brazil
Morocco
Haiti
Scotland
Group D
United States
Paraguay
Australia
UEFA Play-off C (Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo or Romania)
Group E
Germany
Curacao
Ivory Coast
Ecuador
Group F
Netherlands
Japan
UEFA Play-off B (Ukraine, Poland, Albania or Sweden)
Tunisia
Group G
Belgium
Egypt
Iran
New Zealand
Group H
Spain
Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia
Uruguay
Group I
France
Senegal
Inter-confederation Play-off 2 (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname)
Norway
Group J
Argentina
Algeria
Austria
Jordan
Group K
Portugal
Inter-confederation Play-off 1 (DR Congo, Jamaica or New Caledonia)
Uzbekistan
Colombia
Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama