The 2026 World Cup draw is scheduled to take place on Friday, with 48 teams gearing up to find their group stage opponents for next year’s major tournament.
The World Cup draw is just around the corner and England have vowed to avoid one country in particular – France – until the final. The next major international tournament will be held across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 64 teams participating in the group stage draw.
However, once the World Cup playoffs conclude early next year, that number will be reduced to the current standard of 48. England won’t have to worry about that, as they topped their group in the qualifiers and automatically qualified for the tournament.
And, in a major boost to manager Thomas Tuchel’s hopes of lifting the Jules Rimet trophy, the Three Lions will not be able to face arch-rivals France until the final, as they are ranked third and fourth in the world in their respective FIFA rankings. FIFA uses a Wimbledon-style seeding system for the World Cup, which means the top four countries in the world rankings will be separated until the semi-finals.
This is the case for Spain, the highest ranked team in the world, and Argentina, the second highest ranked team, who are randomly drawn in reverse directions in the World Cup draw. This also applies to third-placed France and fourth-placed England, meaning that if both teams win their respective groups, they will not be able to play each other in the tournament unless they reach the final.
The Three Lions come into the tournament on the back of a perfect qualification, having scored 22 points and won all eight games without conceding a goal. Tuchel, who took over from Gareth Southgate, has recently won a lot of praise after a rocky start to his tenure, and he has entrusted the German to do what many of his predecessors have failed to do – win trophies.
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Under Southgate, England reached the European Championship final twice, but lost to Italy and Spain on both occasions. The former Middlesbrough man led the Three Lions to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the 2022 quarter-finals, where they lost to, you guessed it, France.
Once the lottery is completed on Friday, all eyes will be on who will make the team. With just 26 spots available, competition for them is fierce and Tuchel is adamant that a lot could change by next May. Speaking ahead of England’s final qualifier against Serbia and Albania, he said, “I’m feeling calm, but I’m going to go into the open because I don’t know what will happen.”I don’t want injuries, but they can happen suddenly.”
“This is an important cycle for me, and this is the third part of the cycle, so it’s not over yet. All attention is focused here now.
“Then the March camp comes around. After these three camps, I think it’s important to get back in touch with all the 55-60 players on the longlist, keep in close touch, meet, meet, text. That’s my job to do, and then we’ll move into the March phase, which may be even busier for some of the players and their clubs.”
“We always have to keep an open mind because young players can come on and players who have struggled for a few minutes can still play an important role for the club. I always have to make sure the door is open and they have a chance to be on their toes and be with us.”
“The final nomination will be in May, but until then we don’t know what will happen.”
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