Dec 5, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Wayne Gretzky draws the card of Haiti for Group C during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images
FIFA held the draw for the World Cup on Friday morning in Washington, setting the stage for next summer’s tournament. While official game schedules won’t be released until Saturday, the draw sets the groups of teams competing at next summer’s World Cup.
Here’s what it means for Philadelphia
What’s the draw?
Friday’s draw slotted the 48 qualifiers – 42 of which are already set and six of which are still to come from intra- and inter-federation qualification in March – int0 groups.
There are 12 groups of four at the first expanded World Cup. Thirty-two teams advance from the group stage, with all group winners, runners-up and eight of 12 third-place teams. (It used to be eight groups of four with only group winners and second-place teams advancing to a Round of 16.)
The full results of the draw are available here.
When does the tournament start?
The tournament will open with Mexico hosting South Africa on June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Canada and the United States will open the tournament a day later, the U.S. playing Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Canada will host the survivor of UEFA qualifying Path A (Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy or Northern Ireland) in Toronto.
The knockout round begins on June 28. July 4 begins the Round of 16. Quarterfinals will be held July 9 in Foxborough, Mass., July 10 in Los Angeles; and July 11 in Miami and Kanas City.
Quarterfinals are July 15 in Arlington, Texas., and July 15 in Atlanta. The final is July 19 at MetLife Stadium.
What is Philly’s role?
Lincoln Financial Field will host six games in the tournament, starting June 14 with a Group E matchup. Locations of all matches will be finalized on Saturday, but we can narrow down the teams that may be here.
The Philly games:
The top seed in Group E, which will send the most teams to Philadelphia, is Germany. The Germans won the tournament in 2014 and made the final in 2002. Ivory Coast, one of Africa’s top teams, joins them with Ecuador and Curacao, making its World Cup debut and the smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup.
Group C is led by Brazil, five-time champion and seven-time finalist. It may be the most aesthetically pleasing of the groups in terms of soccer quality, with Morocco, Haiti and Scotland joining.
Group I is headed by France, the runner-up in 2022 and the champion in 2018 and 1998. Senegal is in there with Norway and an inter-confederation tournament winner that is Bolivia, Suriname or Iraq.
Group L brings England, Croatia, Ghana and Panama.
The games are not the only attraction, as Philadelphia will host a Fan Fest in Lemon Hill that extends beyond the gamedays and through the duration of the tournament. It will include fan activations and watch parties through the tournament.
What about the U.S.?
It’s highly unlikely that the U.S. will be in Philadelphia. But the U.S. got a pretty favorable draw. It’s in Group D, with Paraguay, Australia and a European team. The latter will be the qualifier of UEFA Path C: Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Kosovo.
The U.S. play their first and third games at SoFi. In between is a trip to Seattle to take on Australia.
If they win Group D, they’d be in Santa Clara on July 1; A runner-up finish lands them in Arlington, Texas, on July 3. They’re funneling toward Round of 16 games in either Atlanta or Seattle.
