Scotland's World Cup pot confirmed as FIFA set out draw procedure and 'tennis-style' seeding

FIFA have confirmed that Steve Clarke’s men, who qualified for the 2026 finals seven days ago following a 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden, will be the among the third seeds for the draw a week on Friday in Washington DC.

It means that the Scots will not be pitted against Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa in the group stages as they are also pot three teams.

One of the unknowns after last week’s completion of regular qualification was whether the play-off teams would be placed in pot four. FIFA has now confirmed that is the case.

World football’s governing body is also introducing a tennis-style system for the knockout stages, having adopted a similar format for the Club World Cup earlier this year.

The top two teams in the current FIFA rankings – Spain and Argentina – will be on opposite draw pathways, as will the third and fourth-ranked sides, France and England.

Those four teams would then be placed in different quadrants of the 32-team knockout phase if they all come top of their groups.

That would mean England potentially not coming up against European champions Spain or world champions Argentina until the semi-finals, and remaining apart from France until the final.

England v Scotland is a possibility

England and Scotland could be drawn against each other, but that possibility will be removed if England draw a European opponent from pot two. A maximum of two European teams can be placed in each group. Teams from the other confederations must be kept apart.

Play-off hopefuls Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales are in pot four, with Northern Ireland and Wales battling for one spot in play-off path A.

The draw, which starts at 5pm on December 5, is expected to last between 45 and 50 minutes. A significant chunk of time will be saved because group position by pot has been predetermined rather than forming part of the draw as it has in the past.

For instance, if Scotland are drawn into Group A, as the team from pot three they would automatically be put in position two, or ‘A2’ for the purposes of the fixture schedule. The positioning varies from group to group.

Kick-off times and the allocation of matches to stadiums will be announced on December 6, the day after the draw. The allocation process will be designed to ensure the best possible conditions for all teams while, where possible, enabling fans all over the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones.

Organisers indicated on Friday there will be no movement of matches away from current host cities, despite US President Donald Trump threatening to relocate games.

It is also understood that Haiti and Iran will not be deliberately excluded from playing matches in the United States, despite fans from both countries being subject to travel bans into the US.

Pot One: United States, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot Two: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot Three: Panama, Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot Four: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, Uefa play-off winner 1, Uefa play-off winner 2, Uefa play-off winner 3, Uefa play-off winner 4, Intercontinental play-off winner 1, Intercontinental play-off winner 2