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FIFA revealed procedure for the World Cup draw with restrictions on the keys towards the final
CARLOS HORTA MARTÍNEZ
CANTON GROUP
ZURICH.- Mexico will know its rivals for the Group stage of the 2026 World Cup next Friday, December 5 when the drawing takes place from Washington, DC
One of the most recurring doubts among Mexican fans is who will be El Tri’s rival for the opening match of the World Cup to be held on June 11 at the Mexico City Stadium in front of about 90,000 fans.
One of the most important details is that the Tricolor would open the tournament against the teams in Pot 3, in which they would no longer face Panama because they belong to the same Confederation.
The team led by Javier Aguirre would receive Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or South Africa in the opening match of the World Cup at the renovated Azteca Stadium.
One of those teams will face El Tri in the opening match, with the exception of Panama, since it belongs to the same confederation (Concacaf) and except for Europe (UEFA), there cannot be two teams from the same confederation in a group.
FIFA placed Mexico As the head of Group A and as the second rival, they will start from pot 2 and close against someone from pot 4.
So on June 11 there could be the surprise that Mohamed Salah faces the Tricolor, that Uzbekistan plays its first World Cup match in the most significant Colossus, for example.
For the draw of World Cup 2026 There will be four drums that will be labeled 1 to 4 and will have 12 balls each with the name of each country.
In addition, there will be another 12 pots that will be marked with the letters from A to L, which will be the groups of the first phase of the World Cup and there will be another four balls with the numbers of the positions of the teams, from 1 to 4.
IN DETAIL…
There is an interesting innovation since the four best in the ranking would only clash until the semifinals, while the two most prominent, Argentina and Spain, will be in opposite draws and thus would only face each other if they played in the Final; France and England rank third and fourth, respectively.
“In accordance with the match schedule published on February 4, 2024, Mexico will be assigned the position A1 (green ball), to Canada, position B1 (red ball), and to the United States, position D1 (blue ball). The other nine teams in pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same color and will be automatically assigned to position 1 of the group in which they are placed,” the FIFA statement states.
One of the key rules is that no group may have two teams from the same confederation, except UEFA, which due to its greater number of qualifiers may have two teams in the same sector.
THE BOMBS FOR THE DRAW
Bomb 1: Canada, Mexico, United States, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
Bomb 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia
Bomb 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa
Bomb 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, qualified A, B, C and D of the European qualifiers, classified 1 and 2 of the FIFA qualifying tournament
AGENDA
The official draw is scheduled for December 5 in Washington DC, where the groups that will open the first World Cup with 48 teams will be defined.
CRITERIA
FIFA established two separate paths to the semifinals, so the four best classified in the FIFA ranking will go on opposite paths, for a future confrontation in the final
