The FIFA World Cup is rapidly approaching, and one of the most significant parts of the process is on the horizon. On Friday, December 5, 2025, the World Cup draw will determine the 12 groups for next summer's tournament, with a few caveats. Though most of the 48 teams have secured qualification, six final spots are still up for grabs.

Hosts: Canada, Mexico, USA (3)

As is standard since 1938, all three host nations earned automatic qualification to the tournament and already know their group placements, as well as where and when they will play their group stage games. Mexico will open the tournament at Estadio Azteca on June 11, 2026, while Canada and the United States take the field the following day at BMO Field and SoFi Stadium, respectively.

CONCACAF: Panamá, Curaçao, Haití (3)

The three host nations left three automatic qualification bids available for the rest of CONCACAF to play for. Panamá, Curaçao, and Haití won their respective groups in the third round of qualifying following an insane final matchday. 

Embroiled in the results from that final matchday, Jamaica advanced to the Inter-confederation play-offs. Suriname and Honduras both finished second in their groups with nine points and a +3 goal difference, but Suriname will join Jamaica in the next round in March because it scored nine goals in the group phase, while Honduras scored only five.

AFC: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan (8)

One of the earliest confederations to see teams qualify for the World Cup is the AFC, which plays an astonishing five phases with qualification places littered throughout the final three rounds. Japan and Iran booked their spot as early as March, while Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, and Australia had to wait until early June. 

Qatar and Saudi Arabia qualified through a controversial fourth round, in which both team hosted their respective group games and were granted significantly friendlier schedules than their competitors. 

Second-place finishers Iraq and the United Arab Emirates faced off in the fifth and final round, where Iraq clinched a place in the Inter-confederation play-offs with a penalty kick in the 17th minute of added time.

CAF: Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia (9)

CAF's straightforward qualification process sees all 54 member nations drawn into nine groups of six teams, with the nine group winners earning the confederation's nine automatic qualification places. During this cycle, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and South Africa qualified for the World Cup, alongside Cape Verde, a small island nation with a population under 500,000, which advanced to the tournament for the first time in its history. 

The four best group runners-up based on points and goal difference advanced to the second round for a spot in the inter-confederation play-offs. Due to Eritrea's withdrawal from group E, all matches against 6th-place teams were not considered when selecting the top four teams. 

As a result of this process, Gabon, DR Congo, Cameroon, and Nigeria played in the semifinals, with DR Congo defeating Nigeria 4-3 on penalty kicks in the final. 

CONMEBOL: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay (6)

By far the most gruelling qualification process belongs to CONMEBOL, where every team plays every other team home-and-away, with the top six sides qualifying directly for the tournament and the seventh-place finisher advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Argentina ran away from the trailing pack with 38 points from 18 games, nine more than second-placed Ecuador, who faced a three-point deduction for falsifying documents in the last World Cup qualifying cycle. 

Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay all tied with 28 points to secure the top six positions and a place at the World Cup this summer. Bolivia's 20 points were enough to clinch the playoff positions as the team continues to chase its first World Cup berth since 1994.

OFC: New Zealand (1)

New Zealand played only five games to qualify for the World Cup, three in their group before a semifinal and final, in which the team outscored its opponents by a combined 29-1. Nottingham Forest forward Chris Wood led his team with nine goals as his side qualified for the World Cup for only the third time ever and the first since 2010. 

In the final, New Zealand defeated New Caledonia 3-0, who, as runner-up, qualified for the inter-confederation play-offs after an impressive campaign that saw them top Group A with seven points from three games before defeating Tahiti 3-0 in the second-round semifinal. 

UEFA: England, France, Croatia, Norway, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Scotland (12)

Sixteen spots at next year's tournament will come from UEFA, accounting for a third of the competition. The confederation's 54 members were drawn into 12 groups of 4 or five teams, with the top team in each group securing automatic qualification to the tournament. 

After a fierce first round, England, France, Croatia, Norway, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and Scotland clinched the top spots, as all remaining second-place teams and the four best Nations League group winners progressed to the Second Round Playoff.  

UEFA Second Round Playoff

In late March, 16 teams will compete for the final four automatic qualification positions. This week, UEFA drew them into four separate paths, with a semifinal and final to be played in each. The team that wins both games in their path will advance to the World Cup next summer. 

The paths are as follows:

Path A

Wales vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

Italy vs Northern Ireland

Path B

Ukraine vs Sweden

Poland vs Albania

Path C

Slovakia vs Kosovo

Turkey vs Romania

Path D

Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland

Denmark vs North Macedonia

Inter-confederation play-offs

The final two places will be decided in a similar fashion. The six teams that qualified for the inter-confederation play-offs were ranked by FIFA, with the lowest four teams seeded in the semifinals of two separate paths. Conversely, the top two teams advanced directly to the final, where they will meet the winners of their respective paths' semifinals. 

The paths are as follows:

Path A

New Caledonia vs Jamaica

Winner vs DR Congo

Path B

Bolivia vs Suriname

Winner vs Iraq

July 11 will be here before we know it, so make sure to tune in to the World Cup Draw in two weeks and keep up with the rest of World Cup Qualifying when it kicks off in late March.