The eyes of the entire football world are on Washington, where the draw takes place; Kosovo also present

Representatives of 64 countries will be present at the 2026 World Cup draw on Friday in Washington, a record number. Many FIFA officials insist that the more national teams take part, the more spectacular the biggest football tournament will be.

FIFA increased the number of participating national teams at the World Cup from 32 to 48, and only 42 teams have secured their place at the tournament so far. Six more will be decided through the playoffs, which will be held on March 26 and 31 next year. Of the teams in Friday’s draw, which begins at 18:00 in Washington, 22 will play in the playoffs.

At the World Cup, which will be held from June 11 to July 19, 104 matches will be played instead of the previous 64. Next year’s World Cup will be held in countries in South America. 72 matches will be played in 11 National Football League (NFL) stadiums, including all matches from the quarterfinals onward. 13 matches each will be played in Mexico and Canada.

The final will be played at “MetLife Stadium” in New Jersey, where there will be a halftime show for the first time. Meanwhile, the opening match will be at “Azteca Stadium” in Mexico City.

In addition to the winners and runners-up of the 12 groups, eight teams will advance from third place to the new 32-team knockout round. The World Cup winner will play eight matches.

Led by Lionel Messi, who will be 39 during the tournament, Argentina would become the first national team to win the World Cup twice in a row since Brazil triumphed in 1958 and 1962.

Messi and Portugal’s 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo are expected to play in their sixth World Cup.

At least four countries have qualified for the first time

Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan have qualified for the first time, while four playoff teams could make their debuts – Albania, Kosovo, New Caledonia and Suriname.

Curaçao, an autonomous territory with a population of 156,000 within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is the smallest country by population to have secured qualification.

Haiti has qualified for the first time since 1974, and Austria, Norway and Scotland for the first time since 1998.

“I’m a little concerned,” said former U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller, now an analyst at “ESPN.” “We talked about this when it expanded from 24 national teams, that some of the teams entering the World Cup aren’t at a satisfactory level, and now there are 48 teams. I think there will be teams that will struggle a lot.”

About 2 million tickets sold

FIFA has set prices of up to $6,730 for a ticket, along with $175 for a parking spot and $73,200 for a hospitality package – compared with $25 to $475 for the 1994 tournament in the U.S.

Nearly 2 million tickets have been sold, although expectations were that more than 6 million would be sold, the governing body said.

“I’m not sure if FIFA’s main goal is to grow the sport in America,” said former U.S. goalkeeper Tony Meola.

Temperatures could be high at some U.S. stadiums

It could be crucial for the teams whether they play in open-air stadiums, where high summer temperatures could play a major role. Only four of the 11 stadiums in the U.S. have roofs.

At this year’s Club World Cup in the U.S., six matches were delayed due to weather, for a total of eight hours and 29 minutes.

The match schedule will be announced on Saturday. The average midday temperature over the past 30 years in “East Rutherford” on July 19 has been 28 degrees, “Associated Press” further reported.

Trump to attend the draw  

Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, James Brown and Vanessa Williams performed at the 1994 World Cup draw ceremony in Las Vegas, as did comedian Robin Williams.

But this draw appears likely to resemble the December 2017 ceremony in Moscow, which was opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump, who was among the Chelsea players when they received their awards after triumphing at the Club World Cup this summer, is expected to attend the draw alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the prime minister of Canada.

Retired sports stars Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Wayne Gretzky and Aaron Judge will be on stage for the draw, alongside Rio Ferdinand and Samantha Johnson. There will be no representatives from Mexico.

Heidi Klum, Kevin Hart, Danny Ramirez, Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and Robbie Williams will also be present. The musical group “Village People” will perform Trump’s favorite song, “Y.M.C.A,” and FIFA will then present its peace prize, which will most likely go to Trump. Eli Manning will host the red carpet.

Teams divided into pots

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, U.S., Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany.

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Africa, Ecuador, Austria, Australia.

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa.

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, UEFA Playoff A winner (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina), UEFA Playoff B winner (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, Albania), UEFA Playoff C winner (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo), UEFA Playoff D winner (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Ireland), FIFA Playoff 1 winner (New Caledonia, Jamaica, Democratic Republic of the Congo), FIFA Playoff 2 winner (Bolivia, Suriname, Iraq).

Cities where matches will be held

A total of 16 cities will host matches, 11 of them in the U.S.: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Boston and New York. Mexico will be represented by Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City, while Vancouver and Toronto will be Canada’s host cities. The venues will be divided into three zones (West, Central and East). Each team will play its preliminary matches in only one zone.