World Cup draw 2026: England and Scotland Group Stage fates predicted by AI
The draw for the group stages of next summer’s FIFA World Cup finals will take place on Friday.
The clock is ticking as the World Cup finals draw ever closer and England and Scotland await news on who will provide their opponents in the group stage of next summer’s tournament in North America.
There is still a chance they could be joined by Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland after they all secured a place in the play-offs in the new year with a dramatic conclusion to the group stages of their own qualifying campaign.
That means all five nations will be keeping a keen eye on events at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC on Friday evening as what will surely be an overly complicated draw that will confuse pretty much everyone takes place to decide the makeup of the groups that will kick off next summer’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
England have the benefit of being one of the top seeds for the tournament and that should give Thomas Tuchel’s men a favourable draw as they kickstart the latest stage of their bid to claim a men’s FIFA World Cup win since Sir Alf Ramsey’s men lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966. However, there are some difficult tests potentially lying in wait with the likes of Croatia and Senegal in pot 2, Egypt and Cote d’Ivoire in pot 3 and a number of big European countries battling through play-offs in the new year to secure a play in pot 4.
Scotland are in pot 3 as they prepare for their first World Cup finals since 1998 and that means they could be drawn alongside one of world football’s big hitters such as holders Argentina, Kylian Mbappe’s France or the most successful side in the 95-year history of the World Cup, Brazil.
But how could the draw pan out? We take to Grok3 to see how the AI tool predicts England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland will fare in the group stage draw.
What are the seeds for the World Cup 2026 finals group stage draw?
Pot 1 (Hosts + top 9 ranked): Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2 (Next 12 ranked): Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3 (Next 12 ranked): Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4 (Lowest 12 ranked + play-off qualifiers): Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, European Play-Off B, European Play-Off C, European Play-Off D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 2
AI predicts the World Cup 2026 finals group stage draw
Group A: Mexico, South Korea, Paraguay, European play-off qualifier (UKR-SWE-POL-ALB)
Group B: Canada, Senegal, Scotland, New Zealand
Group C: Brazil, Japan, Egypt, European play-off qualifier (ITA-NIR-WAL-BIH)
Group D: USA, Iran, South Africa, European play-off qualifier (TUR-ROU-SVK-KOS)
Group E: Germany, Switzerland, Algeria, Inter-Confederation play-off qualifier (IRQ-BOL-SUR)
Group F: Argentina, Austria, Ivory Coast, Jordan
Group G: France, Uruguay, Panama, Cabo Verde
Group H: Netherlands, Australia, Tunisia, Curaçao
Group I: Portugal, Croatia, Qatar, Inter-Confederation play-off qualifier (COD-NCL-JAM)
Group J: Belgium, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana
Group K: England, Morocco, Norway, Haiti
Group L: Spain, Colombia, Uzbekistan, European play-off qualifier (DEN-MKD-CZE-IRL)
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