World Cup 2026 draw: England face two 2018 reunions, Scotland land Brazil | World Cup 2026

England will face a rematch of their 2018 semi-final in the opening fixture of their World Cup campaign next summer, after they were drawn alongside Croatia in Group L.

England will also play Panama, another side they faced at the Russia World Cup, and Ghana. Venues and kick-off times will be announced from 5pm GMT on Saturday but the group’s matches are split across four US cities – Dallas, Boston, New York/New Jersey and Philadelphia – and Toronto.

Croatia beat England 2-1 in extra time to end an unexpected run for Gareth Southgate’s side in Russia. England beat Panama handily, though, winning 6-1 in the group stage. They have never faced Ghana at the World Cup.

At the draw in Washington DC, which lasted more than two hours after 90 minutes of preamble, there were a number of strong groups selected. Scotland will also face a partial repeat of their last World Cup campaign after they were drawn alongside Brazil and Morocco, as well as Haiti, in Group C.

The most prominent candidate for the title of “Group of Death” is Group I, where the seeds France are joined by Senegal and Erling Haaland’s Norway alongside the winner of an international playoff. The US face Australia, Paraguay and a European playoff winner.

With 48 teams competing at a World Cup for the first time in its 96-year history, the draw was a complicated and incomplete affair. A further complication was added by the recent decision by Fifa to prevent their four highest-ranked sides – Spain, Argentina and France and England – from playing each other before the semi-finals.

The draw served as the climax to a glitzy, stilted event dominated by the award of a new Fifa peace prize to Donald Trump on behalf of “the billions of people who love this game and want peace”. Trump acknowledged the award as one of the “great honours of my life” and gave a speech that praised the scale of World Cup ticket sales and stuck precisely to his allocated time of two minutes.

Gianni Infantino was also a recurring presence on the stage, with the Fifa president not only awarding the peace prize but acting as moderator of an added part of the draw where the leaders of the three host countries, Trump, president Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, and the prime minister of Canada, Mark Carney, were invited to draw the balls featuring their own nations. He also performed in a recorded skit with Rio Ferdinand, the former England international acting as conductor for the draw.