A Firsthand Account of the Chatoic 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw

Urban Pitch contributor Zach Lowy gives his personal experience at what was a chaos-filled draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup .

Snow. Why did there have be to snow?

As I roused from my bed at 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning, I was greeted with a peculiar sight: snow in December. As someone who has spent his entire life in the Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, I had grown accustomed to snow coming — if at all — only in January or February.

Many people hadn’t even bought their Christmas trees yet, but there was the snow, falling down from the sky and sticking to the ground like a parasite to a host. It was akin to opening your curtains to see a giraffe chewing on a pine tree. I immediately was tasked with a dilemma, one that I failed and paid dearly for: whether to wear my hiking boots or my sneakers.

I was going to have to brave the weather, as today was the highly anticipated 2026 FIFA World Cup draw, hosted at the Kennedy Center, two miles west of the White House. And I was going to be there in person.

The drive from the Maryland suburbs to Washington D.C. was fairly straightforward, save for some road closures and traffic congestions in the final stretch of the commute, but I eventually arrived at the Watergate Hotel, where I picked up my accreditation before heading for the Kennedy Center. It was there where I found myself up against my worst nightmare: two makeshift lines teeming with people.

Photo by Zach Lowy.

If I was going to make it to the start of the draw, I was going to do it the hard way. This would prove to be an omen for the actual TV broadcast of the World Cup draw.

As I engaged new friendships with colleagues from Germany, Egypt, and the United States, discussing everything from study abroad experiences in Madrid to Arsenal’s title prospects and Said El Mala’s emergence in Cologne’s attack, I found myself getting more and more desperate for warmth. And while another line magically opened up on the left side and cleared in a matter of minutes, us mere mortals were stuck waiting in the frigid D.C. winter.

“Getting to the Kennedy Center was simple on public transportation, but the security experience outside was abysmal,” said Forbes journalist Vitas Carosella to Urban Pitch. “One security checkpoint for all media and guests in the freezing cold was a poor logistical decision and made journalists scramble to get food and find seating ahead of the draw. The security experience dampened the draw experience, but the draw itself and the mixed zone were executed well given the amount of media there.”

My puffer jacket provided a stalwart barrier from the torrid weather, however my Nikes offered no such protection, with the hibernal conditions showing no signs of letting up just as the lines showed no signs of moving forward. This was no light snow — it was as if Zeus was loading up a magazine of snowballs and launching it down to Earth, with the snow melting on my decidedly non-weatherproof shoes and chilling my feet. Pretty soon, the only thing on my mind wasn’t football, but avoiding frostbite and pneumonia.

– Friday, 5 December 2025

But just when I found my way to the front of the line, I was told that security had announced a hard pause on scanning people through and inspecting their bags; the lines screeched to a halt for 20 minutes before things finally got back on track. After three hours of waiting it out in frigid conditions, I finally reached the finish line, where I found a catacomb of water bottles whose owners had been led to believe they could bring with them.

I walked through the metal scanner and opened my jacket to be examined before finally making it through and heading to the media entrance, where I embraced the building’s heating system with the utmost gratitude. At last, I had finally arrived to my first-ever live tournament draw. At last, the arduous journey was over and done with, at last, I could focus on the destination.

The first stop was the media cafe where, for once, I entered a line moving at a reasonable pace and inched my way towards a three-pronged buffet featuring Mexican, American, and Canadian cuisine like tacos, burgers, and poutine, as well as water, soda and coffee. I then oscillated between the various adjacent media theaters, watching on the big screen as the “draw” took place in a different section of the Kennedy Center.

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Ultimately, the draw seemed to be the last thing on FIFA’s mind. Instead, it was shoved into the background to make space for non-footballing matters, be that musical performances from the likes of Lauryn Hill, Robbie Williams, and Nicole Scherzinger, whose last big hits came two decades ago, commercials with famed actors like Matthew McConaughey and Salma Hayek, or a cringeworthy skit featuring a group of kids trying to teach Rio Ferdinand how the new selection process works.

The Kennedy Center featured a plethora of sporting legends like Eli Manning, Thierry Henry , Iker Casillas , Hugo Sánchez, and Ronaldo Nazario as well as political figures like Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. But there was no doubt about who the most important person in the room was, at least in the eyes of FIFA President Gianni Infantino : U.S. President Donald Trump.

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Two months after missing out on a Nobel Peace Prize that he steadfastly lobbied for, Trump was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. The participation trophy was the latest in a long line of love letters from Infantino to Trump, which include overseeing FIFA’s rental of office space in Trump Tower in New York just two years after opening a new facility in Miami, allowing Trump to be in the post-match celebrations at the FIFA Club World Cup final, and even hosting the draw at the Kennedy Center, conveniently located down the street from the Oval Office.

Infantino became FIFA president in 2016, the same year that Trump was first elected — and since taking the reigns he has made sure to ingratiate himself to Trump in order to ensure a smooth operation at the 2026 World Cup . We saw a subtle reminder of this when, after requesting Trump to walk to the front of the stage, he obliged, “You can do what you want,” when he decided to walk behind the podium instead.

– Friday, 5 December 2025

All things considered, it seemed that the actual draw of countries was the last thing on anyone’s minds. Two hours had passed, and nobody knew anything about the different groups — it was as if they were cramming the most important thing into the bottom the suitcase to make room for as many other objects as they could.

Eventually, the World Cup draw finally got underway, with Ferdinand and Samantha Johnson replacing Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum as the presenters and welcoming a host of North American sports stars in Shaquille O’Neal, Aaron Judge, Wayne Gretzky, and Tom Brady to crack open the balls and reveal which teams from which pots were going in which groups.

Prior to this point, every single step in this journey had been seemingly delayed to the maximum. But when it came to actually going over the key talking points, discussing each group and the potential match-ups, and analyzing what was at stake, the draw itself was played at 1.5x speed.

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Instead of gradually building the excitement and shining the spotlight on the main spectacle, FIFA chose to sacrifice precious time for other pressing topics, like consistently interrupting the draw so that Danny Ramirez could complete a flash interview with a retired athlete.

By jamming so many other unnecessary items into the show, FIFA was forced to leave out so many other important things, like the announcements of the time and location of each game, which was postponed for Saturday. They zoomed through the only part that actually mattered like a speed racer on the Autobahn, and it wasn’t until I was back home that I was able to truly process and absorb the various group stage matchups.

Rather than watching The Village People perform “YMCA,” I chose to exit the building and head for the mixed zone center, where, despite having my badge successfully scanned through, I was forced to go through two subsequent examinations by two different FIFA volunteers before finally being allowed to do my job and interview the game’s top international managers and get a proper discussion of the next summer’s action.

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Mexico will kick off the tournament against South Africa in a rematch of the 2010 opener, with Mexico playing host this time around. These two sides will compete against South Korea and a pending European team in Group A. Denmark will face off against North Macedonia on March 26 in Copenhagen, and if they win, they will meet either Czechia or the Republic of Ireland five days later in a do-or-die match. Out of these four teams, only Denmark competed in the last World Cup in Qatar .

“A lot of things have happened since the last World Cup ,” said Denmark manager Brian Riemer to Urban Pitch. “There has been kind of a generational change throughout the last six to seven months. You saw that in the last two games we played, 10 of the guys had fewer than 10 caps, so it’s quite a young team that’s developing and that has a great future at the moment. Hopefully we can start that journey in Mexico and America. Denmark is doing really well right now, but they also have a great future ahead of them.”

Similarly to co-hosts Mexico and the U.S., Canada was given a fairly hospitable draw after landing in the same group as Qatar , Switzerland , and a to-be-determined European team: either Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, or Northern Ireland.

Canada has built some momentum in recent years, and reached the semifinals of the 2024 Copa América . However, the nation has still yet to register a point at the World Cup , losing all six of its matches across two tournaments.

“We’re clearly more advanced as a team than we were at [the Copa],” said Canada manager Jesse Marsch in an interview with R.Org . “We also caught some teams by surprise a little bit because they didn’t know everything that we were going to be about.”

But while Canada have a golden opportunity to secure their first-ever result in the World Cup , Switzerland looms large as a nation with plenty of talent.

“We have players who have played in big teams and big leagues, we know how the World Cup works, so all of our players are motivated,” said Switzerland manager Murat Yakin to Urban Pitch. “We have a good mix of leaders like Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji and young players.

“From the last World Cup , a lot has changed as experienced players have stopped their careers, and we’ve found a good solution by getting through strong teams like Sweden, Slovenia, and Kosovo and making it through qualification. All of this has helped to build up our team’s potential, and we are now ready to go in this fight and are happy to play in Canada .”

In group C, Brazil is seeking a record-extending sixth World Cup title and will be challenging Morocco , who had an inspired run to the semifinals in 2022, for the top spot. Meanwhile, Scotland is seeking to make a splash in its first World Cup since 1998, and Haiti is looking to impress in what will be its first World Cup in 52 years.

“The main strength for Haiti is unity,” said Haiti manager Sébastien Migné to Urban Pitch. “If we continue like that during the World Cup , it will not be easy for our opponents. Of course, in terms of individuality, we cannot compete with Brazil ; it would be stupid to say that. But in terms of unity, we will be there. I expect that. We have no other choice if we want to qualify [for the knockout round].”

Now with the chaos of the draw behind us, the time for speculation, prediction, and even further anticipation is upon us. Stay tuned for what promises to be an epic World Cup in North America.