The 2026 World Cup was born: the groups were drawn on the day of the FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s show. If he manages to qualify for Italy it won’t go bad…
It was a one man show but it wasn’t even listed. The real master of the house took all the show, relegating none other than the most powerful man in the world to an extra. It was Gianni Infantino’s show, an appetizer of what will be this extra large World Cup that the Fifa number one wanted with all his strength to engrave his name in capital letters in the history of football. “The greatest sporting event of humanity” Infantino defined it from the stage in Washington, forgetting that he had said the same thing a handful of months ago when talking about the 2022 edition in Qatar and the unsurpassed competition of events like the Olympics which truly are planetary, by force of numbers and tradition.
We need to get used to it, it will be Infantino’s summer. Football, hopefully, sooner or later will regain a central place in the schedule between phantasmagoric announcements, paid political bills (Trump was given the FIFA Peace Price almost as compensation for the Nobel that the Swedes stubbornly deny him) and all the corollary of exaggerations linked to the great show of the World Cup draw.
On stage with Infantino, who also called them “assistants”, none other than Donald Trump – who arrived with first lady Melania -, Mexican President Claudia Sheinenbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. It doesn’t matter if the relations between the three nations are cold, tending towards frost, Infantino has gone beyond political current affairs by taking on the role of great weaver. Trump ended up granting him that “real football” is the one played in Europe, not the American football of the United States which has relegated the ball to soccer: who knows what NFL lovers think of that.
Italy observed from afar, hoping to be there and everything will depend on the week in March in which the Azzurri will face the playoff trap. In Washington we saw Andrea Bocelli who sang the immortal “Nessun Dorma” thrilling everyone; the hope is that it will not remain the only trace of Made in Italy. Another gleaning from the draw show, which had to patiently wait before showing itself to the world: the World Cup anthem sung by Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger is a beautiful song that is unlikely to stick in the ears like some that preceded it.
Italy’s possible opponents: we will (hopefully) be seeded
After weeks of discussing the correctness of FIFA’s criteria, it must be admitted that Italy didn’t do badly. On the contrary. The starting point is that we have to go to the World Cup, eliminating Northern Ireland and one of Wales and Bosnia, but if that happened we would find ourselves in the position of playing the role of a shadow seed.
Being virtually dropped into the fourth and final tier exposed us to the (always virtual) risk of a terrible group. Instead the draw placed us together with Canada (the least strong of the real seeds), Qatar and Switzerland. It’s true that our Swiss friends sent us home from the European Championship in 2024, but considering that the fear was of ending up in a hell of big names, we can’t complain.
In case of qualification, the West Coast awaits us: Toronto, the possible debut with Canada on 12 June), Los Angeles for Switzerland (19 June) and Seattle with Qatar (24 June). Now the most difficult job remains. Present ourselves at the World Championship among the 48 registered.
2026 World Cup, the groups resulting from the Washington draw
Four legends of professional sports made in the USA took the balls out of the ballot boxes: Wayne Gretzky, the greatest ice hockey player ever, Aaron Judge, star of the New York Yankees, Shaquille O’Neal, winner of 4 NBA titles, and Tom Brady, seven-time dominator of the American football Super Bowl, former quarterback of the New England Patriots.
Here are the groups that emerged:
- Group A: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, Europe Playoff D (Denmark/N. Macedonia/Czech Rep./Ireland)
- Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Playoff Europe A (Italy/No. Ireland/Wales/Bosnia)
- Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
- Group D: USA, Australia, Paraguay, Playoff Europe C (Türkiye/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo)
- Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curaçao
- Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Playoff Europe B (Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania)
- Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand
- Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde
- Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, FIFA Playoff 2 (Bolivia/Suriname/Iraq)
- J Group: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan
- K Group:Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, FIFA Playoff 1 (New Caledonia/Jamaica/Congo)
- L group: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
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