The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw took place on Friday, as national teams from around the world found out who they will play against in the Summer of 2026 across Mexico, Canada, and the United States. As with every World Cup draw, there were winners and losers, so let's look at the four biggest from Friday's festivities, starting with the USMNT.

Winner – USMNT

The U.S. Men's National team is among the winners because they avoided the top teams in Pots B, C, and D, and came away with a solid 2026 World Cup draw that should see them cruise to the knockout round with relative ease.

Next Summer, the USMNT will kick off its tournament with Paraguay on June 12 in Los Angeles, then play Australia in Seattle on June 19, and finally go against the winner of the Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, and Kosovo playoff back in LA.

Getting Australia instead of Pot 2's Croatia or Morocco and Paraguay instead of Pot 3's Norway or Egypt was a win for the U.S. squad. Assuming the highest-ranked team, Turkey, comes out of the playoff, the USMNT—14th in the FIFA World Rankings—will face the 39th, 26th, and 25th-ranked teams in the world.

While FIFA Rankings leave a lot to be desired in terms of truly reflecting quality, they do give you an idea of where teams stack up, and the United States is clearly the best of Group D.

Loser — England

Our former colonial overlords did not fare nearly as well in the 2026 World Cup draw as the U.S. did. England, ranked fourth in the world, drew some of the toughest and scrappiest teams from around the globe in Group L.

They first get Croatia, the 10th-ranked side, who made it to the 2022 World Cup semifinals last time out, only falling to the eventual champions, Argentina. The Three Lions follow that up with Ghana, an African squad that is ranked 72nd, but which is a historically tough out in this competition. They have reached the knockout stage in two of their four World Cup appearances, and in 2010, they arguably should have made the semifinals if not for the infamous Luis Suarez handball.

Finally, England closes with 30th-ranked Panama, a tenacious CONCACAF side that is never fun to play against, as the USMNT knows all too well.

While there are likely still high hopes for Thomas Tuchel's side across the pond, this draw is doing them no favors.

Article Continues Below

Winner(s) — The other host nations

Mexico and Canada also got excellent draws, which is normal for the host nations, as they come out of Pot 1 along with the top teams in the world.

Mexico (15 in the world rankings) got South Africa, South Korea, and the winner of the Denmark (21), North Macedonia (65)
Czechia (44) and Ireland (51) playoff. While the playoff winner will be tough, El Tri should come out on top.

Same with Canada (27), which faces the winner of the Italy (12), Northern Ireland (69), Wales (32), Bosnia & Herzegovina (71) playoff, Qatar(51), and Switzerland (17). This may be the hardest of the host nations' draws, but they definitely have it easier than four years ago, when they featured in a Group of Death with Croatia, Morocco, and Belgium.

These draws might not be quite as forgiving as the USMNT path, but it seems like we will be seeing all three host nations in the 2026 World Cup round of 32 at the very least.

Loser — France

Traditional powers like Germany and Brazil also got tough draws in the coming World Cup, but France may have the true Group of Death this time around. The two-time champions have an extremely difficult path to the knockout stage, as Senegal, Norway, and the winner of the Bolivia, Suriname, and Iraq playoff.

In Senegal, Les Bleus face the highest-ranked (19) African side in the world, and with Norway (29), they get a big dose of Erling Haaland, the best goalscorer on the planet right now. All the playoff teams are 58th or worse, but with all the other three tough squads in this group, a battle-tested low seed will be looking for an upset.