World Cup: Trump, Tom Brady among figures to help reveal groupings

FIFA revealed its World Cup groups at a high-profile event in Washington, DC, on Friday.

With the help of President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, NFL legend Tom Brady, NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and the NHL’s greatest player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, the 12 groups were announced.

They selected random balls containing the names of countries and assigned them to their groups. Trump, Sheinbaum and Carney all chose their own country’s name to start the process.

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President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hold their countries’ cards during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, December 5, 2025. (Stéphanie Scarbrough, Pool/AP Photo)

Brady picked the Pot 1 teams, O’Neal picked the Pot 2 teams, and Judge and Gretzky had Pots 3 and 4, respectively.

While the groups were created on Friday, six of the 48 participating teams will not be known until March 2026. Four of them will come from the 16-team UEFA qualifiers.

The countries participating in the UEFA qualifiers are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.

The remaining two places will be decided in the 2026 FIFA World Cup play-off tournament. The six teams participating in this tournament are Bolivia, DR Congo, Iraq, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.

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(L to R) FIFA President Gianni Infantino, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum take the stage during the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, December 5, 2025. (Stéphanie Scarbrough/Pool/AFP)

Below you will find the 12 groups:

Group A

Mexico

South Africa

Republic of Korea

Winner of the UEFA Playoffs D

Group B

Canada

UEFA A qualifiers winner

Qatar

Swiss

Group C

Brazil

Morocco

Haiti

Scotland

Group D

USA

Paraguay

Australia

Winner of the UEFA Playoffs C

Group E

Germany

Curacao

Ivory Coast

Ecuador

Group F

The Netherlands

Japan

Winner of the UEFA B Playoffs

Tunisia

Group G

Belgium

Egypt

RI Iran

New Zealand

Group H

Spain

Cape Verde

Saudi Arabia

Uruguay

Group I

France

Senegal

Winner of the FIFA 2 Playoffs

Norway

Group J

Argentina

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

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Alejandro Zendejas (17) scores a goal and celebrates with Max Arfsten (18), Cristian Roldan (24) and Christian Pulisic (10) during an international friendly match between Japan and the USMNT at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio on September 9, 2025. (Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Group K

Portugal

Winner of the FIFA 1 Playoffs

Uzbekistan

Colombia

Group L

England

Croatia

Ghana

Panama

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