If you think sports and politics don’t mix, you might want to miss Friday’s World Cup draw.
Next summer’s tournament will be FIFA’s biggest ever. More teams, more games, more fans, more host countries, more host cities, more expensive tickets and more money to make.
Power and glory will unfold with the frontline trio of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Donald Trump.
Make no mistake. Gianni Infantino may be FIFA president, but Trump is president of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful country and has a very real interest in the World Cup his country co-hosts next summer.
Under other circumstances, Friday’s drawing would have been held in Las Vegas, but Trump appears to have other ideas. That’s why the most powerful men in world football (and they still are almost all men) are heading to Washington this week, and not to the self-proclaimed entertainment capital of the world.
Entertainment provided at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has typically been of a more cerebral nature than middle-aged men pulling balls out of glass bowls, but that was before Trump became chairman of the board in February.
US President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino hold the World Cup trophy in the Oval Office of the White House.
Friday’s glamorous draw is hosted by a supermodel Heidi Klum and comedian kevin hart And a special performance Andrea Bocelli, Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger. pulling down the curtain village, Singing MAGA Trump’s anthem YMCA, which last topped the charts when FIFA conducted the draw for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Of course, the only draw is finding out who your team will be playing, but Trump’s presence at FIFA’s big show will guarantee front and back page coverage in Saturday’s papers.
Expect to see photos of Gianni Infantino handing Trump the first FIFA Peace Prize. What this has to do with football is anyone’s guess, but Infantino’s principle has always been to get as close as possible to the leaders of the countries hosting the World Cup.
With this in mind, no one should rule out the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman winning the prize in the 2034 World Cup draw.
Lotteries, tight schedules, ticket prices…
The drawing itself is very simple. This is the first 48-team World Cup and the fact that 22 countries can earn the remaining six places through play-offs in the spring makes it very simple for 64 teams.
The teams will be divided into four pots, with Pot 1 containing England, Pot 3 containing Scotland and Pot 4 containing play-off hopefuls Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol explains how the 2026 FIFA World Cup will introduce a new ‘tennis seeding’ style format to the draw that will see England avoid the top seeded teams until the later stages of the tournament.
On Friday we’ll find out who’s in each group of four. However, the fixture schedule (location and kickoff time for each game) will not be announced until Saturday afternoon.
With the media spotlight burning brightly on Trump, it can be easy to forget that this World Cup is also being held in Mexico and Canada. Most of the games (78) will be played in the United States, including the opening game in Mexico City on June 11, with 13 games each in Canada and Mexico.
From then on the game comes thick and fast. There will be group matches until June 27th, with four games a day from June 13th to June 23rd instead of the usual three.
There will be 16 more countries and 40 matches, with a new round of 32 tournament featuring the best eight teams from the top two and third places in each group. Of the matches played over a total of 33 days, the final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New York and New Jersey on July 19, approximately 38 days after the start.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports News’ Cave Solhekol explains Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘unprecedented decision’ to play in Portugal’s World Cup opener unless he re-offends.
Ticket prices will be a major talking point over the next seven months, thanks to FIFA’s controversial decision to use dynamic pricing. Costs vary depending on demand, so you can see amazing prices on tickets, especially for the most high-profile games. FIFA said 8% of tickets for each match would be set aside by each team and distributed to fans through national associations without dynamic pricing.
FIFA’s official ticket resale platform is just as controversial as dynamic pricing. Tickets can be sold on the platform, with the seller setting the price and FIFA taking a commission of 15% from the seller and 15% from the buyer.
Of course, FIFA is a non-profit organization and they will tell you that they reinvest all the money they make into the game. They’ll say it’s for the good of the game, but it’s also to get as many affordable tickets as possible for as many fans as possible.
So what can we expect from next summer’s World Cup? You can put your money on Ronaldo playing when the ban was in place, the high temperatures, expensive tickets, huge NFL stadiums and, when it was all over, Infantino declaring it “the best World Cup ever.”
