Draw of the World Cup qualifying tournament: Ukraine will learn its opponents today.

Today, December 13, the draw for the group stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament in the UEFA zone will take place. The start is at 1:00 PM Kyiv Time. Ukraine is in the second pot.

The first pot includes the semi-finalists of the UEFA Nations League – Portugal, France, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, as well as England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria – the best teams in the FIFA ranking among those European teams not playing in the Nations League semi-finals. The remaining participants are distributed across pots 2-5 according to the updated FIFA registry from November 28, where Ukraine occupies the 25th position.

2026 World Cup. Qualification cycle

UEFA (Europe) has 16 spots.

The qualifying tournament in the European zone will take place from March 2025 to March 2026 and will consist of two rounds.

Pots before the first round draw

Pot 1: France, Spain, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria.

Pot 2: Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Wales, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Romania, Greece, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Norway.

Pot 3: Scotland, Slovenia, Ireland, Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel.

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Belarus, Kosovo, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Lithuania.

Pot 5: Moldova, Malta, Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, San Marino.

Ukraine will not be in the same group with Belarus.

Details of the battle for qualification for the World Cup

1st round of qualification: 12 groups of five or four teams will play from March to November 2025 using the traditional group system. 12 group winners will receive direct spots in the final stage.

12 teams that finish second and four best group winners from the Nations League who finish below second in the European qualification group stage will participate in the playoff mini-tournaments.

2nd round of qualification: the playoff mini-tournaments in March 2026 will consist of single-match semi-finals and finals. 16 participants will be divided into four playoff paths. Four winners will receive spots at the 2026 World Cup.

AFC (Asia): 8 spots + 1 place in the intercontinental playoff.

CAF (Africa): 9 spots + 1 place in the intercontinental playoff.

CONCACAF (North and Central America): 3 tournament organizers + 3 spots + 2 places in the intercontinental playoff.

CONMEBOL (South America): 6 spots + 1 place in the intercontinental playoff.

OFC (Oceania): 1 spot + 1 place in the intercontinental playoff.

Intercontinental playoff: 2 spots.

2026 World Cup. Final tournament

The 2026 World Cup will be the first in history with 48 teams participating in the final stage. There will be 12 groups of four teams. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-placed teams will advance to the Round of 16.

Matches of the 23rd World Cup will be held in 16 cities. They will be: in Canada – Toronto and Vancouver, in Mexico – Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, in the USA – Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.

The opening match of the World Cup will be held on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City, and the final will take place on July 19 in New York.

It should be noted that Russia has been suspended from the draw for the World Cup qualifying tournament.