Scotland qualify for World Cup... so what happens now?

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ByGeorge O'Neill

BBC Sport Scotland

I have a dream... and it's Kenny McLean.

But that's just it, what happened at Hampden on Tuesday wasn't a dream. Scotland really did beat Denmark, with McLean sealing it from the halfway line, to reach their first men's World Cup since 1998.

As the entire country comes to terms with the monumental achievement - and the equally monumental hangovers - thoughts will inevitably turn to the finals themselves.

Flights to North America and accommodation in the three host countries of the United States, Canada and Mexico will be frantically searched for and calculations done to discover potential seedings.

But what do we know at this stage and when will we learn more?

When is the World Cup draw?

Time to get the wall chart drawn up and the flight comparison website loaded up.

The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place on Friday, 5 December at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, at 17:00 GMT (12:00 local time).

It will be the biggest World Cup yet, with 48 nations taking part - an expansion from 32 last time round in Qatar. Have we mentioned Scotland have qualified?

The three host countries get in automatically, while nations from other confederations have had their own qualifying campaigns.

The first Fifa Peace Prize will also be awarded by the organisation's president, Gianni Infantino, on the day of the draw.

The tournament will last more than a month, commencing on 11 June before coming to a conclusion in New Jersey on 19 July.

Who do you fancy in the final?

How do the World Cup seedings work?

The 48 participating teams will be placed into pots based on Fifa rankings and confederation constraints.

The teams will be divided into four pots of 12 and each of the 12 groups will have one team drawn from each pot.

Still with us?

Pot one includes the host nations and the top nine countries in the world rankings.

Pots two, three and four will include the next-best ranked teams - so, in theory, each group should be balanced.

However, the six play-off winners are expected to be placed into pot four and the European teams are likely to have a higher world ranking than the automatic qualifiers.

But, most importantly, where are Scotland going to be?

Well, Steve Clarke's side as Group C winners have gone into pot three.

No offence to our hosts, but you're probably hoping for either USA or Canada as your top seeds.

Which countries have qualified for the World Cup?

Hosts: Canada, Mexico, United States

Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia

Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Uzbekistan

Europe: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland

Oceania: New Zealand

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay

North and Central America and the Caribbean: tbc

Where are the World Cup host cities?

This is where it gets really tasty.

There are 16 host cities across the three countries. Here's the split:

Canada: Toronto, Vancouver

USA: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco

Mexico: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey

They are split into three regions of west, central and east, but don't let that fool you into thinking there may not be much travel involved.

More than 1,200 miles separate Los Angeles and Vancouver in the west region, there are 1,700 miles between Kansas City and Mexico City in the central region, and 1,500 miles between Miami and Boston in the east.

What are potential World Cup kick-off times?

It is anticipated these kick-off times will mirror those at the Club World Cup, when the earliest games started at 17:00 BST, followed by 20:00, 23:00 and 02:00.

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