{"id":15125,"date":"2025-12-06T01:20:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/fifa-world-cup-2026-how-the-draw-played-out-from-the-matchups-to-the-politics\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T01:20:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:20:49","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-how-the-draw-played-out-from-the-matchups-to-the-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/fifa-world-cup-2026-how-the-draw-played-out-from-the-matchups-to-the-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026: How the draw played out, from the matchups to the politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Get an early take on Canada\u2019s World Cup drawSoccer journalist John Molinaro, speaking Friday as the World Cup draw was ongoing, provided an initial look at what Canada can expect \u2014 and why we won\u2019t know the fourth and final team in Group B until March. December 52 hours agoThe full game schedule drops Saturday Sarah PetzLionel Scaloni, head coach of current world champion Argentina, places the FIFA World Cup trophy on a plinth during today\u2019s draw. (Dan Mullan\/Getty Images)And so ends another World Cup draw. The matchups are settled, but fans will have to wait until tomorrow to see the full schedule \u2013 including kickoff times. We do know Canada will face Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24, with both of those games in Vancouver. Canada\u2019s opener in Toronto on June 12 will be against the winter of UEFA playoff A, which could be Wales, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland or Italy.A game against Italy, the 12th-ranked team in the world and four-time World Cup winner, would make for \u201ca marquee event and just a really tough opponent,\u201d says soccer journalist John Molinaro. If you\u2019re looking for more coverage around the politics of today\u2019s event, you can find a story on the private meeting between Carney, Sheinbaum and Trump here.If you\u2019re looking for our colleague Chris Jones\u2019s insight on the jitters of the day, you can read his analysis here.3 hours ago3 leaders \u2018agreed to keep working together on CUSMA:\u2019 PMOCatharine TunneyFrom left, Carney, Sheinbaum and Trump today. (Patrick Smith\/Getty Images)As the day comes to a close, Carney\u2019s office has issued a relatively vague statement saying the prime minister \u201chad many occasions for constructive discussions\u201d with both Trump and Sheinbaum. \u201cToday was about the FIFA World Cup 26 and Canada\u2019s leadership and opportunities as we welcome the world as a co-host,\u201d said Audrey Champoux with the prime minister\u2019s office. \u201cIn their principal discussion, the three leaders met for approximately 45 minutes and they\u2019ve agreed to keep working together on CUSMA.3 hours agoChris JonesCanada\u2019s third opponent in the round robin, as we\u2019ve mentioned, will be another European team: either Wales, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland or Italy, depending on who wins a two-round playoff. Canada won\u2019t find out until the playoff is decided in March.\u201cI just didn\u2019t want to wait to know. Too bad, I\u2019ve got to be a little bit patient,\u201d Marsch said.\u201cIt\u2019s a little awkward, but whatever. It\u2019s the World Cup, man. Let\u2019s get ready. Let\u2019s get ready to go.\u201d4 hours agoMarsch confident Canada can \u2018beat anyone\u2019 at World CupChris JonesMarsch, second from left, during today\u2019s draw in Washington. (Patrick Smith\/Getty Images)Meanwhile, soccer players and coaches moved into what\u2019s called the mixed zone, a space where media can interview athletes and administrators. It\u2019s usually after a match, but today a zone was set up after the draw.Jesse Marsch, Canada\u2019s coach, told reporters he\u2019s generally pleased with today\u2019s draw but knows the team will have to rise to the challenge next summer.\u201cIt\u2019s not the toughest, it\u2019s not the easiest,\u201d Marsch said of the matchup with Qatar and Switzerland. \u201cI said this going in [today]: we\u2019re confident in our team and whoever we were going to draw, we were going to be ready for those games and know that we can beat anyone. That still remains.\u201cI said at the beginning, I didn\u2019t want Norway. The fact we didn\u2019t get Norway, that made me happy. The second pot, all those opponents would be a big challenge.\u201d5 hours agoCarney-Sheinbaum-Trump meeting over Catharine TunneyFIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, takes a selfie on stage with U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Prime Minister Mark Carney during the draw for the 2026 World Cup. (Evan Vucci\/The Associated Press)Carney\u2019s office says the meeting with the prime minister, Trump and Sheinbaum is over.It lasted about 45 minutes behind closed doors.It\u2019s unclear what was said \u2014 and what the tone was like between the three leaders. Carney is now headed to the Canadian Embassy for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, where he will make some brief remarks. 5 hours agoTrump travel ban bars fans from Haiti, Iran from U.S. Sarah PetzTrump announces travel ban on 12 countriesU.S. President Donald Trump has resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term, announcing that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the U.S. and those from seven others would face restrictions. The new ban includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.As mentioned, Haiti is going to the World Cup for the first time since 1974 \u2014 and for only the second time ever \u2014 after defeating Nicaragua 2-0 in a qualifying match last month. But Haitian soccer fans will be barred from watching their team compete in person in the U.S., with their country being one of 12 subject to a travel ban Trump enacted in June. The ban includes exemptions for World Cup athletes, coaches, \u201cpersons performing a necessary support role\u201d and their immediate relatives, but it still applies to fans from those countries. Fans from Iran, another country subject to the ban, find themselves in the same situation. The spokesperson for Iran\u2019s soccer federation also said visas were denied to key members of its delegation, and it was boycotting the draw at the Kennedy Center as a result. 5 hours agoA look at the underdogsAmy Husser#TheMoment Haiti qualified for first World Cup in over 50 yearsPaul Toussaint, a Haitian chef in Montreal, tells The National about the moment he watched his home country make it to the World Cup for the first time since 1974.A combination of the newly expanded format and the host countries means that World Cup 2026 could be an underdog\u2019s dream.Just last month, the tiny island nation of Cura\u00e7ao, with a population of about 156,000, became the smallest country ever to qualify for this marquee event. The former Dutch colony takes that record from Iceland, which had a population of just over 350,000 when it qualified in 2018.Cura\u00e7ao qualified after a 0-0 draw against Jamaica, using a team heavily built with players born and raised in the Netherlands. It has actively recruited from its diaspora after getting permission from FIFA within world soccer\u2019s rules to change the national-team eligibility of five players since August.Cape Verde, with a population of roughly 525,000, also qualified for the first time this year \u2014 the second-least populous country to do so. The former Portuguese colony also turned to its diaspora for recruitment.Haiti is another notable underdog, qualifying for the first time since 1974 despite significant domestic turmoil and the lack of a usable home stadium.Coach S\u00e9bastien Mign\u00e9 has managed some of his players from abroad, as Haiti\u2019s main airport has regularly been shut down in a country where armed gangs control up to 90 per cent of its capital, Port-au-Prince. The team also played all its home games in Cura\u00e7ao, as it was too dangerous to do so in Haiti.Other first-time entrants include Jordan and Uzbekistan, while New Caledonia and Suriname are still in the hunt for a qualifying spot.5 hours agoWhere\u2019s the \u2018group of death\u2019? Anya ZoledziowskiA screen shows the final groupings after Friday\u2019s official FIFA World Cup 2026 draw. (Jia Haocheng\/Getty Images)One of the most exciting parts of watching the FIFA World Cup draw is trying to figure out the \u201cgroup of death\u201d \u2014 the most competitive group, stacked with high-ranking teams and legitimate tournament contenders. This year there isn\u2019t a clear group of death \u2014 though many reports are declaring Group L the most likely candidate. Group L has England (ranked No. 4) and Croatia (10) slated to play early on. Ghana (72) and Panama (30) are unlikely to challenge the powerhouses. But Ghana, a powerhouse in its own right, could be a wildcard, while Panama could pull a surprise.Group F also looks fairly competitive, with the Netherlands (7), Japan (18), Tunisia (40) and the winner of UEFA playoff B \u2014 either Ukraine, Poland, Albania or Sweden. But overall the 48 competitors seem pretty well shuffled. It\u2019s likely that the tournament expansion from 32 teams diluted the pot somewhat. Still, there\u2019s lots of drama ahead, with some intense matches coming up. Croatia vs. England, a rematch of the 2018 semifinal, will be one to watch. And if Italy qualifies, Canada will have to prepare for a hard battle on home turf. 6 hours ago3 host leaders now meeting Catharine TunneyU.S. President Donald Trump talks to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the end of the draw for the 2026 World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington. (Dan Mullan\/The Associated Press)After sitting through the draw and the Village People, Carney, Sheinbaum and Trump are now meeting privately \u2014 where the state of trade negotiations will likely be raised.Despite breaking off talks with Canada at the end of October, Trump sounded in good spirits earlier today when talking about his North American trade partners.\u201dWe\u2019re getting along very well,\u201d he said on the red carpet before the show began. \u201cWe\u2019ll discuss trade.\u201d6 hours agoViewing numbers in the billionsSarah PetzArgentina\u2019s captain Lionel Messi, sitting centre, holds the FIFA World Cup trophy on board a bus during victory celebrations in Argentina in 2022. (Tomas Cuesta\/AFP\/Getty Images)The FIFA World Cup tournament, which runs every four years, is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, with viewership eclipsing most other sporting spectacles. FIFA estimated nearly 1.42 billion people watched the 2022 final in Qatar between France and Argentina on either television or digital platforms, the highest viewership ever for a World Cup final. To put that number into perspective, it\u2019s almost 20 per cent of the global population and more than 10 times the 127.7 million estimated to have tuned in to this year\u2019s Super Bowl. Over the entirety of the 2022 tournament, FIFA has estimated close to five billion fans watched in some form or another. Only the Olympics come close to that kind of global viewership. Research conducted for the International Olympic Committee suggests around five billion people watched the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris at some point.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get an early take on Canada\u2019s World Cup drawSoccer journalist John Molinaro, speaking Friday as the World Cup draw was ongoing, provided an initial look at what Canada can expect \u2014 and why we won\u2019t know the fourth and final team in Group B until March. December 52 hours agoThe full game schedule drops Saturday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,123,1],"tags":[116,122],"class_list":["post-15125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-saskatchewan","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-saskatchewan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}