The final draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is in the books, with fascinating group stage matches far and wide at next year’s global showpiece.
Upon the conclusion of the event, coaches from the participating teams spoke with FIFA about their future opponents, what strides their teams made in 2025 and what their preparation will be prior to the start of the tournament.
Algeria - Vladimir Petkovic
"A very interesting group. A group made up of three teams that will have to play for second place. Argentina will be a favourite. It will certainly be very interesting. I think Argentina is the best. We (Algeria), along with Austria, and even Jordan, are doing everything we can to secure second place. I think we'll have a good chance. The first match must be against Argentina. Our goal? As always, to win. I'm saying we can even advance."
Argentina - Lionel Scaloni
“They are tough opponents. Austria had a great qualifying campaign, and we believe they are a very good team. Algeria, too, because of the way they play, is an opponent to be wary of. And Jordan as well, they had a great qualifying campaign. We have continued to compete at the highest level, we have tried to bring in new players who can contribute that extra bit of youth, and that is what we will continue to try to do next year.”
Australia – Tony Popovic
“I know so many Australians will be booking their tickets now that we know who we’re playing. We have wonderful support, and I’m sure every Australian will be behind us… We think we’ve come a long way. We’ve qualified automatically, which we haven’t done in a long time. We feel we’ve given a lot of young players an opportunity in the last few friendly matches, which helps with the depth of our squad and now the final preparations begin.”
Belgium - Rudi Garcia
"I'm looking forward to facing Egypt. Because I had Mo Salah at AS Roma. He's a fantastic player and I'll be very happy to see him again. After that, we have an interesting group with teams we're not used to playing, because there are no other Europeans in the group besides us. It's the beginning of the adventure. It's very exciting, we can't wait to get started.”
Brazil – Carlo Ancelotti
"It’s a very difficult group. Morocco is very strong, and so is Scotland. Morocco did very well in the last World Cup, they’ve been performing very well, and Scotland also qualified for the World Cup by winning important matches in Europe. A very solid team, very strong physically. We have to be careful with this group, but I am confident in the quality of our national team."
Canada - Jesse Marsch
“We like our group, it’s an exciting, challenging group for sure. The only unfortunate thing for me is not knowing our third oponent. We will be keeping a close eye on the European play-offs. But, certainly, when you just look at the quality of the coaches that are in our group – [Murat] Yakin, [Júlen] Lopetegui --, it will be a big challenge for me to prepare for those matches, but it’s one that I’m excited about.”
Croatia – Zlatko Dalic
“We will have the 48 best players of the world in the tournament, and it’s up to us to play against England, Ghana and Panama. England is the favorite, one of the best teams in the world, and it will be the most important game for us. In the last World Cup, we won a medal, we had a fantastic tournament, and nobody expected that. Now we have a new generation coming, with the help of veterans like Luka Modric and Andrej Kramaric."
Colombia – Nestor Lorenzo
“This year we lost to Brazil in the first two qualifying matches, and then we were good all year, with five wins and four draws — a positive balance. Hopefully, we'll continue to grow as a team. We have few days to prepare; it's a 20-day training camp beforehand. The competition forces us to do some preparation so they arrive in the best possible condition, and we'll take care of the logistics wherever we have to play.”
Côte d’Ivoire – Emerse Fae
“It’s a group of quality, but I think we have our chances. We’ll begin against Ecuador, which is a really, really good team that plays with a lot of energy – so do we! Then we’ll face Germany and finally Curaçao, so it’s a group within our reach. We’ll have to be serious and give our all to qualify. We never made it to the knockout stages of a World Cup, so our first goal will be to make it out of group stage. African football is improving a lot, and it needs to believe in itself. And Côte d’Ivoire needs to go as far as possible in this tournament.”
Curaçao - Dick Advocaat
“It’s the first time that Curaçao will play in this big tournament. No matter which team we are playing, it’s exciting. It’s good for the island, it’s good for the players. We are a very hard-working team, the kind of team that is always difficult to play against. We are difficult to beat.”
Egypt - Hossam Hassan
"I trust my players because their level is very high, whether it’s Mohamed Salah, Marmoush, or the players in the Egyptian league, they have big ambition. But reaching the World Cup is complicated, and playing there is even harder. Still, I see the ambition in the players. They want to achieve more than what Egypt did in past World Cups. We want to show something positive, especially since we are the team with the most Africa Cup of Nations titles. We need to appear in a better way at the World Cup. This is my main goal."
England – Thomas Tuchel
"We improved a lot in September, October, November. We felt we found our energy and we found good performances and excellent results. And now it's a bit unfair because now we're fully excited, we know who we'll play against, but we have to wait until March to meet the team again, and then we have to wait until June until the tournament starts. So that's a little bit of a downside, but we'll make sure that we're ready."
France – Didier Deschamps
“We have a tough group, a very deep one. Senegal always has a bit of extra motivation when playing against France, but they also have quality players and very interesting results. Norway has had a very high level in the qualifiers, especially with [Erling] Haaland, [Alexander] Sorloth scoring so many goals... So those are quality teams, but I think they’ll say just about the same thing about France.”
Germany – Julian Nagelsmann
“As a European team, it’s never easy when there isn’t another European side in your group. You’re less familiar with those teams. We’re facing the Africa Cup of Nations winners [Côte d’Ivoire] and an Ecuador team with plenty of top players based in Europe. Curaçao are a real wild card. They reached the World Cup surprisingly, but fully deserved it. This is a group that will challenge us from day one.”
Ghana – Otto Addo
"There is no particular game I look forward to (the most) - every game is special. It is very important for us that we don't underrate any team and for sure England is the favourite in the group. Ghana have a very strong relationship with England, so it is going to be very exciting for a lot of people. I am looking at each game equally and hoping that we have a good start against Panama. That would be crucial and it would make the other games a little more relaxed and a little easier for the players psychologically.
Haiti – Sebastian Migne
“We're going to have to raise our game another notch. That's what the next seven months are all about. We're going to have to observe our players, observe our opponents, and try to define the strategies we need to adopt. We also need to write a new roadmap, since the one I set out when I was appointed has been fulfilled with qualification. I think tonight must be crazy in Haiti. We're giving them Brazil. I think they're going to savour it. But knowing them, they're also going to be very demanding, so that's going to put a little more pressure on us."
IR Iran - Amir Ghalenoei
"In general, all the teams in different continents are very close to each other. Compared to the other groups, our condition is better. We will play four friendly matches [ahead of the World Cup], two with seed one teams and two with seeds three and four."
Japan – Hajime Moriyasu
“Every team in our group is strong, and the team that comes through the play-offs will also be a very tough opponent, so I expect it to be a challenging competition. Still, I’m really looking forward to every match. One of our main strengths is our organisation, and I think that has grown significantly.”
Jordan - Jamal Sellami
"This is the start of a new phase for Jordan, to be present more often at the World Cup. It is a chance for Jordan to show its football talent to the world, to help the players gain experience and open doors for young players to play professionally outside the Jordanian league."
Korea Republic - Hong Myungbo
"I was taken aback to see us being selected at the very beginning. You can't ever assume that you can get a favourable draw at a World Cup. Our work to analyse our opponents will start now. We've faced Mexico in September, and South Africa have produced very good results recently. These games will give us the base to build on."
Mexico – Javier Aguirre
"It’s interesting because we opened the 2010 World Cup against South Africa, so it's like a reunion. And the other thing is the uncertainty about which European opponent we'll face. We started the year well, winning the Nations League and the Gold Cup, then we didn't finish strong in friendly matches against very tough teams, but we're doing well, we're improving the team.”
Morocco – Walid Regragui
“In this competition, we are always pitted against a huge team. This time, it’s Brazil: it will be a big match for us. We need to say humble and respect our opponents to make it through the group stage. And then, it will be like a new competition starting. We’re ambitious of course, given our campaign at the 2022 World Cup. There are expectations with this team, and we’ll need to deliver.”
Netherlands - Ronald Koeman
“A draw is always nice. All the groups are in really good shape, to be give some good competition. Our first match is against Japan, and it’s always difficult, because they are always fit and have a very good football team. Then we have Tunisia and we will also have to wait for the other team, because it would be Sweden, Ukraine, Poland, Albania. Anyway, now we all look forward to a big tournament.”
New Zealand – Darren Bazeley
“I think it’s a good group. For us, every group was going to be challenging, but probably there could be a tougher group out there. Belgium is a top-ten team in the world, Iran is one of the best teams in Asia, Egypt have very good players. There won’t be any easy games. Since we qualified, we have spent the last nine months playing against top 40, 50 teams in the world, and it was important for us to gain that experience of playing against good players and good teams.”
Norway – Stale Solbakken
"I think we had a great qualification [campaign]. We have been solid defensively and we have managed to get our best players in good positions so they can win the games for us. We have had a clear playing style I think in the offensive [third], which suits us well.”
Panama – Thomas Christiansen
"We know it's a difficult group with England, Croatia, and Ghana. But, if we look at the other groups, there are other great teams there as well. We have to compete. We've been improving for some time now. I've been with the Panama national team for five years, and there has been an improvement in our game and results. Now it has culminated in this qualification for the World Cup."
Paraguay – Gustavo Alfaro
"I think it's a very evenly-matched group. Even though we're playing the host nation, we recently played the United States and we know how difficult that will be, but the differences between the three teams will make it a very close competition. The whole group will be at a very high level of parity. That raises expectations for all four teams to advance in the competition, but any mistake can knock you out.”
Portugal – Roberto Martinez
“Now with the Draw we can start preparing. We are happy to be in the group we are, because it allows us to play the first game on 17 June. This sets our preparation in a very clear direction. We will play against a team that is in the play-offs, so we don’t know who it will be. But we have a lot of respect for Colombia and Uzbekistan. They are teams that are going to be well prepared for the World Cup and will be challenging.”
Saudi Arabia – Herve Renard
“This is the seventh time Saudi Arabia has participated in a World Cup. Only once have they made it past the first round. So that's the goal. We absolutely must aim for the round of 32 first. If we achieve that, it will already be a successful World Cup for us. The World Cup is a magical event. It's a passion for all peoples. It's a huge tournament with fantastic organisation. So we can't wait to be there."
Scotland – Steve Clarke
“It’s been a long time since Scotland went to a World Cup, so it’s great to be here and be involved in the draw process. It’s a tough group for us with Brazil, Morocco and Haiti, who topped their qualifying section, the same as ourselves. Favourite game? That will be any one that we manage to win! But yeah, lots of positives from the draw and I’m quite happy not to draw any other European teams because it’s a World Cup and good to play teams from other continents.”
South Africa - Hugo Broos
“It’s not an easy group for us. First of all, we will face the hosts in the opening game, at the Azteca stadium, and it will be very difficult for us there. On the other side, we also have South Korea, that’s possible [to beat]. But we are a little bit disappointed that we are going to also have the winner of the Denmark and Northern Ireland play-off. It will be probably Denmark, which is a big team. We will do our best, and let’s see where we end.”
Spain – Luis de la Fuente
“We're in the process of continuing to grow as a team, based on great individual talent that must always be at the service of the team. We have the matches in March; we'll see which matches we play, and then there's that pre-World Cup training camp, with some matches to help the players recover after a very demanding season of European competitions, so we can have as many players available as possible."
Switzerland – Murat Yakin
“It’s a very attractive group. Canada are a team we’re really looking forward to facing. With Qatar, it’s still difficult to say exactly what their squad will look like. And we’ll also get a European opponent. We need to prepare well, but I believe we will have a committed team. The next six months will go by very quickly.”
Uzbekistan - Fabio Cannavaro
"It's a really tough group because we face Portugal. It will be very tough for us, but I say to my players, being in a World Cup is a privilege. We need to enjoy the World Cup and the games and we will see what happens. Most of my players play in the Middle East, Turkey and the [Uzbekistan] league. Our league is not very intensive so we need to improve these kinds of things. It will be difficult to push the players during the season but we are going to a World Cup and everyone will be really fit.”
