World Cup 2026 live: England, Scotland and USA to learn full match schedule after shameful draw ceremony – UK Times

An interesting day in Washington DC yesterday…

Right at the start of events in Washington’s Kennedy Center, Fifa president Gianni Infantino warned “it’s not a normal draw”.

That was saying something. It featured extremely politicised interpretations of the most grave situations in the world, from Gaza to Kosovo, which started to look a lot like propaganda.

It is a tragedy for football that Fifa – the body that is supposed to serve the game – has resorted to this. Somehow, another draw.

Read Miguel Delaney’s full analysis from the chaos in Washington:

England will play a familiar foe in Croatia at the 2026 World Cup, as the 48-nation tournament began to take shape in Friday’s draw in Washington DC.

Croatia knocked out England from the 2018 World Cup at the semi-final stage. Now they will meet in the first game of Group L at the 2026 tournament, in a group which also contains Panama and Ghana.

Croatia are among the toughest opponents England could have expected and will be their opening match in Toronto or Dallas on 17 June. England faced Panama at the 2018 finals, beating them 6-1 in the group phase, while they have never faced Ghana before in a competitive match.

Scotland have learned their group stage opponents for the World Cup 2026 as Steve Clarke’s men were given a tough draw.

Scotland sealed their first World Cup since 1998 in dramatic fashion when they scored two stoppage-time stunners to pip Denmark to top spot in their final qualifier, thereby earning automatic qualification for next summer’s tournament finals.

Having been placed in Pot 3, they will face a daunting test against Brazil from Pot 1 and Morocco, semi-finalists at the last World Cup, from Pot 2. They will also face Haiti from Pot 4, who are returning to a World Cup for the first time since 1976.

Scotland’s first World Cup outing in 28 years will be against that side, with the venue for the clash to be confirmed today.

The 2026 World Cup draw has been made as Fifa’s giant tournament – both in geography and the sheer volume of football – finally takes shape.

The World Cup will be played across Mexico, Canada and the USA in an expanded format with 48 teams included for the first time. They have been split across 12 groups of four, with the top two progressing automatically to the knockout stages and the eight best third-placed teams also going through to the round of 32.

Here’s everything you need to know: