The draw for the 2026 World Cup creates some easy and some difficult groups for contenders. We ranked all 16 from toughest to easiest.

First, it’s an opening game against Erling Haaland's Norway, which won every qualifier on their way to the World Cup. After that, it’s the winner of Bolivia, Iraq or Suriname, ending with a game against Senegal, a country so deeply connected to the French, who also did well in qualifiers.

FIFA is about to determine which teams all 48 participating countries in the FIFA World Cup 2026 will face in the group phase of the tournament, which the U.S., Canada and Mexico are co-hosting.

Follow live coverage as teams are drawn for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The tournament will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer.

In group F, the Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia and (potentially) Ukraine will be closely contested, but with group L not having any uncertainty in their four qualified nations, you could argue that England’s group is — in theory — the strongest known group of the dozen.

2026 will be Portugal’s ninth World Cup appearance and Ronaldo’s sixth. Since the 40-year-old’s debut in 2006, the Iberians have won their group just twice (2006 and 2022). They also failed to qualify for the knockout stages in 2014.

The World Cup draw on Friday morning in Washington D.C. revealed most of the teams coming to the Bay Area to play at Levi’s Stadium next June.