The Socceroos have avoided some of the sport’s strongest teams after being placed in Pot 2 for the 2026 World Cup.
It means that Tony Popovic’s side, No.26 on the latest FIFA rankings, cannot face any of two-time champions Uruguay, 2018 finalists Croatia, Colombia, Switzerland and Austria in the opening round.
Pot 2 also includes the Socceroos’ great Asian rivals Japan, South Korea and Iran.
Next week’s draw will reward the four highest-ranked teams – Spain, Argentina, France and England – who will be placed in separate sections of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.
FIFA said on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEDT) that the top four teams in the latest men’s rankings will, if they finish top of their respective round-robin groups, avoid each other until the semi-finals of the June 11-July 19 tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
That means defending champions Argentina with Lionel Messi and top-ranked European champions Spain with Lamine Yamal cannot meet until the final at MetLife Stadium near New York – if they win their groups.
“To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established,” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday, aiming to reward teams whose consistent good results have raised their world ranking.
At previous World Cups, the path for teams into and through the knockout phase was decided by which group they were drawn into.
The draw ceremony for the first 48-team World Cup will be held on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in the presence of US President Donald Trump.
The 42 teams that already qualified include Iran and Haiti, which FIFA expects will play exactly where they are drawn regardless of complicated politics those countries have with the US.
The 16 host venues for the 104 games include 11 cities with NFL stadiums in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The other six entries will be decided in March when European and global playoffs brackets are scheduled, and those teams all will come out of the draw pot of lowest-ranked teams.
That means four-time champions Italy could be a dangerous option in next week’s draw, which will set the match schedule by placing teams in 12 round-robin groups of four teams each.
Europe has 16 teams in the line-up and a maximum of two can be drawn into any one group. The other 32 teams in the tournament cannot be drawn in a group with a team from the same continent.
The three co-hosts are among the 12 top seeds in the draw.
WORLD CUP DRAW SEEDINGS
Pot 1: Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United States, Mexico, Canada
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, 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, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European playoff winner 1, European playoff winner 2, European playoff winner 3, European playoff winner 4, Intercontinental playoff winner 1, Intercontinental playoff winner 2.
– with AP
– with AP
https://thewest.com.au/sport/soccer/its-pot-luck-for-socceroos-ahead-of-world-cup-draw-c-20797016
