FIFA World Cup 2026: Canada will face Qatar, Switzerland and winner of European playoff

Carney-Sheinbaum-Trump meeting over

Carney’s office says the meeting with the prime minister, Trump and Sheinbaum is over.

It lasted about 45 minutes behind closed doors.

It’s unclear what was said — 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.

Trump travel ban bars fans from Haiti, Iran from U.S.

U.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 — and for only the second time ever — 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, "persons performing a necessary support role" 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’s 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.

Paul 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's dream.

Just last month, the tiny island nation of Curaçao, 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.

Curaçao 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's 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 — 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 Sébastien Migné has managed some of his players from abroad, as Haiti's 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 Curaçao, as it was too dangerous to do so in Haiti.

Other first-time entrants include Jordan and Uzbekistan, while the small nations of New Caledonia and Suriname are all still in the hunt for a qualifying spot.

Where’s the 'group of death'?

One of the most exciting parts of watching the FIFA World Cup draw is trying to figure out the “group of death” — the most competitive group, stacked with high-ranking teams and legitimate tournament contenders.

This year there isn’t a clear group of death — 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 — either Ukraine, Poland, Albania or Sweden.

But overall the 48 competitors seem pretty well shuffled. It’s likely that the tournament expansion from 32 teams diluted the pot somewhat.

Still, there’s 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.

3 host leaders now meeting

After sitting through the draw and the Village People, Carney, Sheinbaum and Trump are now meeting privately — 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.

"We're getting along very well," he said on the red carpet before the show began. "We'll discuss trade."

Viewing numbers in the billions

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’s 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’s 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.

A look at the finalized group draw

As the Village People went on stage to perform Y.M.C.A., soccer/football fans across the world are studying the groups for the opening round of the 2026 World Cup.

Here’s the result of today’s draw:

Why teams would want to face Canada

Canada was only in Pot 1 by virtue of being a co-host, along with the U.S. and Mexico. By FIFA's measures, the 27th-ranked Canadians would have normally been a low Pot 2 or high Pot 3 seed, and every Pot 2 team was ranked higher.

It's an uncomfortable truth, but every country, from Colombia to New Zealand, would have wanted to find itself in Group B, given Canada's relative weakness as a top seed. The alternatives were the greatest soccer sides on Earth, including Argentina, France, Spain and England.

Switzerland won the prize. There could have been worse draws for Canada — Croatia and Morocco among them — but a result against the Swiss in the last group-stage game won’t be a given.

Qatar was close to an ideal pick for Canada. The 2022 host was the first team eliminated from its own World Cup, and only Saudi Arabia and South Africa were lower seeds in Pot 3.

The road ahead for Canada

The men’s World Cup draw was going well for Canada until Pot 4.

Instead of one of the weakest teams, Canada drew the winner of UEFA Playoff A, which will see favourite Italy, the 12th-ranked team in the world, compete against Wales, Bosnia and Northern Ireland in March.

Canada had already drawn 17th-ranked Switzerland and 51st-ranked Qatar — favourable picks given the possibilities.

But the spectre of facing Italy — in Canada's opener in Toronto on June 12 no less — left head coach Jesse Marsch grim-faced in the glittering crowd at the Kennedy Center, with his arms folded tight across his chest.

It had been a nervy-enough afternoon already.

None other than Wayne Gretzky made the fateful pick. When he opened the ball and unfurled the ribbon that revealed Canada's difficult fate, it felt like the best and worst possibilities.

Should Italy emerge from that playoff, they’ll be Canada’s toughest test.

But that first game in Toronto will be a party to end all parties — so long as it doesn't end Canada's knockout-stage dreams first.

With Pot 4 now placed, the groups are set

Wayne Gretzky is the final assistant to draw countries. Here's what he pulled:

• Group A will eventually get whoever wins from the European qualifying Playoff D between Denmark, North Macedonia, Czech Republic and Ireland.
• Canada’s Group B, which also has Qatar and Switzerland, will be joined by the winner of Playoff A. The playoff group includes Wales, Italy, Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Haiti was added to Group C.
• Curacao went to Group E.
• Group I will eventually get the qualifier from FIFA Playoff 2, which includes Iraq, Suriname and Bolivia.
• Cape Verde — the third-smallest country by population to ever qualify for the World Cup — landed in Group H, and they’ll be Spain's opening match competitor.
• Whoever qualifies from European Playoff C — Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo — will join Group D.
• The winner from UEFA Playoff B will go into Group F. Playoff B includes Ukraine, Sweden, Poland and Albania.
• Jordan joined group J.
• Group K will eventually get the winner of FIFA Playoff 1, which includes Congo DR, Jamaica and New Caledonia.
• Ghana was placed in Group L.

That meant that the final country — New Zealand — joined Group G.