Canada, ranked 27th in the world, has been drawn with No. 17 Switzerland, No. 51 Qatar and a yet-to-be determined European team in Group B at next summer’s FIFA World Cup.
The European team could be No. 12 Italy, which is taking part in a European playoff in March along with No. 32 Wales, No. 69 Northern Ireland and No. 71 Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Italy-Northern Ireland winner will face the Wales-Bosnia victor to see who joins Canada in Group B.
The Canadian men will open play June 12 in Toronto against the European side, the team drawn from Pot 4, before heading west to Vancouver, where they will face Qatar (Pot 3) on June 18 and then Switzerland (Pot 2) on June 24. Both Vancouver games are at B.C. Place Stadium.
The road map for the expanded 48-team tournament unfolded at the draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., before a star-studded crowd including Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, whose three countries are co-hosting the competition.
In a surprise move, all three leaders took the stage for the draw. But they were only there to draw their teams, which had already been assigned to specific groups.
Canada is hosting 13 of the tournament’s 104 games, with seven in Vancouver and six in Toronto.
Argentina, Messi to open World Cup
Friday’s draw determined Argentina and Lionel Messi will start their title defense against Algeria and the U.S. will open against Paraguay.
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Teams from five-time champion Brazil to newcomers Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan learned their group stage opponents in the expanded 48-nation, 104-game tournament that starts June 11 in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The lead-in show was almost as long as a soccer match, with the actual draw for the expanded 48-nation tournament starting in the 87th minute. Balls with team names were plucked by famous North American athletes Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Aaron Judge and Wayne Gretzky.
Three-time champion Argentina opens on June 16 at either Kansas City, Missouri, or Santa Clara, California. Specific sites for all group stage games and kickoff times were to be announced Saturday. The Albiceleste then face Austria and Jordan in Group J. Argentina surprisingly lost its 2022 opener to Saudi Arabia before going on to win the final over France on penalty kicks.
The U.S., which reached the semifinals at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and the quarterfinals in 2002, starts Group D against Paraguay on June 12 in Inglewood, California. The Americans play Australia six days later at Seattle, then face Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo on June 25 back at SoFi Stadium.
The Americans had friendlies against Turkey in June and Paraguay last month.
“We know them but they know us,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “The most important is the evolution and keep improving.”
Mexico hosts the tournament opener at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on June 11 against South Africa in Group A, a rematch of the 2010 opener in Johannesburg, a 1-1 draw. El Tri then meets South Korea and closes the first round against the Czech Republic, Ireland, Denmark or North Macedonia.
Forty-two of the teams have been determined and 22 are competing in playoffs for six berths that will be decided March 31.
Winners and second-place nations from the 12 groups advance to the new round of 32 along with the top eight third-place teams. All games from the quarterfinals on will be in the U.S., culminating in the July 19 final at East Rutherford, New Jersey.
England, which won its only title in 1966, plays Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Group L, and five-time champion Brazil meets Morocco, Haiti and Scotland in Group C.
Top-ranked Spain, the 2010 champion, faces Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H, while four-time champion Germany plays Curaçao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in Group E.
Two-time champion France starts June 16 against Senegal at East Rutherford, New Jersey, or Foxborough, Massachusetts. With Les Bleus coming off their first world title, they lost to Senegal 1-0 in the 2002 opener. France then faces Bolivia, Iraq or Suriname in Group I.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, like Messi expected to play in a record sixth World Cup, has Group K matches against Uzbekistan, Colombia and Congo, Jamaica or New Caledonia. If Portugal and Argentina win their groups, Ronaldo and Messi could meet in a quarterfinal at Arrowhead Stadium.
Other groups include:
- G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
- B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar and Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wales or Northern Ireland
- F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia and Sweden, Ukraine, Albania and Poland
No team has repeated as champion since Brazil in 1958 and ’62 and only eight nations have won soccer’s biggest prize. Italy has four titles and Uruguay two.
—With files from the Associated Press
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