WeeklySA_AdminFINALS: The draw unveils 12 sections, pitting South Africa against 2010 World Cup opening match rivals Mexico again…
By Own Correspondent
The FIFA World Cup 2026™ group stage has been mapped out during a dazzling Final Draw at the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
Brazil-Morocco, Netherlands-Japan and a rematch between France and 2002 conquerors Senegal were among the standout fixtures to emerge, while debutants Cabo Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan can look forward to mouth-watering match-ups against Spain, Germany, Argentina and Portugal respectively. Mexico-South Africa was also confirmed as the tournament’s opening match in Mexico City on June 11 2026.
The 12 groups below were drawn in an event conducted by former England captain Rio Ferdinand, with sporting icons Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal serving as assistants.
Kevin Hart, Heidi Klum and Danny Ramirez hosted a star-studded draw show that opened with a spine-tingling performance by Andrea Bocelli and also saw Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger, Lauryn Hill and the Village People entertain the watching world.
Full Schedule Reveal
The next major milestone on the road to 2026 will come when the updated World Cup 2026 match schedule is unveiled live on FIFA.com tomorrow (December 6), with venues and kick-off times for all 104 matches confirmed at 12:00 EST (18:00 CET) in Washington, DC. FIFA President Gianni Infantino will be joined by an all-star cast for the event.
To help confirm where and when every match of the game-changing tournament will be played, Infantino will be joined by legends of the global game, including two men who have won the most iconic trophy in world sport.
Ronaldo Nazário, winner of the FIFA World Cup in 1994 and 2002 with Brazil, will appear on the panel with Francesco Totti, winner of the tournament in 2006.Also joining host Andrés Cantor to share their opinions on the key storylines of the tournament will be Bulgarian football icon Hristo Stoichkov – joint top scorer at the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ in the United States – and American football champion and one of the most iconic players of the 1994 edition, Alexi Lalas.
The final version of the match schedule will be available in March, once the FIFA and European play-off tournaments have taken place and the final six slots have been filled. – Fifaonline
COACHES REACT TO DRAW
South Africa – Hugo Broos “It’s not an easy group for us. First of all, we will face the hosts in the opening game, at the Azteca stadium, and it will be very difficult for us there. On the other side, we also have South Korea, that’s possible [to beat]. But we are a little bit disappointed that we are going to also have the winner of the Denmark and Northern Ireland play-off. It will probably be Denmark, which is a big team. We will do our best, and let’s see where we end.”
Mexico – Javier Aguirre “It’s interesting because we opened the 2010 World Cup against South Africa, so it’s like a reunion. And the other thing is the uncertainty about which European opponent we’ll face. We started the year well, winning the Nations League and the Gold Cup, then we didn’t finish strong in friendly matches against very tough teams, but we’re doing well, we’re improving the team.”
Korea Republic – Hong Myungbo “I was taken aback to see us being selected at the very beginning. You can’t ever assume that you can get a favourable draw at a World Cup. Our work to analyse our opponents will start now. We’ve faced Mexico in September, and South Africa have produced very good results recently. These games will give us the base to build on.”
When Africa danced with Tshabalala
FLASHBACK: Reliving memorable moves that followed one of FIFA World Cup’s most emotional goals, when SA’s Siphiwe Tshabalala scored an unforgettable opening goal of 2010 World Cup fixture against Mexico…
By Own Correspondent
“Goal Bafana Bafana! Goal for South Africa! Goal for all Africa!”
A decade-and-a-half on, this remains one of the most famous and celebrated lines of FIFA World Cup™ commentary.
For the man who captured the significance of a Soweto boy scoring the opening goal of the first World Cup on African soil, it is also a moment that continues to stir the emotions.
“Of all the things I’ve been lucky enough to cover,” said Peter Drury, one of the game’s most experienced commentators, “that remains the number one in my head. Nothing to do with what I said, but just because [the moment] was hugely symbolic. It did transcend football… That’s the goal that still makes me well up and brings out the hairs on the back of my neck.”
The fact that it was not just momentous, but truly brilliant, only added to the goal’s appeal. Siphiwe Tshabalala, the player responsible for one of the most sweetly struck shots in World Cup history, admitted knowing almost instantly that it would change his life – and define his career.
“That was always going to be my biggest goal, no matter what came after, because it touched so many lives and brought joy to so many people,” he told FIFA in 2020. “I’ll always love it – it’s beautiful – but the goal is bigger than me as an individual.
“It still feels like yesterday because I get reminders and messages from people about it every single day. It’s very humbling. That goal was special at the time, it’s special today and, for me and a lot of other people, it will be special forever.”
A strike of such quality and emotional significance needed a celebration to match, of course, and Tshabalala did not disappoint. So joyful was the touchline dance that followed, in fact, that it became almost as iconic as his left-foot screamer.
As the South Africa icon explained, his choreographed moves with Bafana Bafana team-mates reflected a sense of destiny that had been years in the making.
“When they announced the World Cup was coming to South Africa [in 2004], I was nowhere as a footballer,” he told FIFA. “But I remember telling my friend, ‘I’ll be there in 2010, playing for Bafana Bafana’. It shows the power of positive thinking.
“It was the same as the game got closer – I envisaged having a good game and scoring a goal. The celebration showed that actually because it was rehearsed. We knew we were going to score!”
Yet, again, Mexico-South Africa were last night confirmed as the opening match in Mexico City for FIFA World Cup 2026™ group stage.
The date? June 11 2026 – the same date as 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
De javu! – Fifaonline
COACHES REACT TO FINAL DRAW
CAUTIONARY TALE: What the leading men of World Cup 2026 teams had to say about their group stage fate…
By Own Correspondent
Morocco – Walid Regragui “In this competition, we are always pitted against a huge team. This time, it’s Brazil: it will be a big match for us. We need to say humble and respect our opponents to make it through the group stage. And then, it will be like a new competition starting. We’re ambitious of course, given our campaign at the 2022 World Cup. There are expectations with this team, and we’ll need to deliver.”
Netherlands – Ronald Koeman “A draw is always nice. All the groups are in really good shape, to be give some good competition. Our first match is against Japan, and it’s always difficult, because they are always fit and have a very good football team. Then we have Tunisia and we will also have to wait for the other team, because it would be Sweden, Ukraine, Poland, Albania. Anyway, now we all look forward to a big tournament.”
Spain – Luis de la Fuente “We’re in the process of continuing to grow as a team, based on great individual talent that must always be at the service of the team. We have the matches in March; we’ll see which matches we play, and then there’s that pre-World Cup training camp, with some matches to help the players recover after a very demanding season of European competitions, so we can have as many players available as possible.”
Germany – Julian Nagelsmann “As a European team, it’s never easy when there isn’t another European side in your group. You’re less familiar with those teams. We’re facing the Africa Cup of Nations winners [Côte d’Ivoire] and an Ecuador team with plenty of top players based in Europe. Curaçao are a real wild card. They reached the World Cup surprisingly, but fully deserved it. This is a group that will challenge us from day one.”
France – Didier Deschamps “We have a tough group, a very deep one. Senegal always has a bit of extra motivation when playing against France, but they also have quality players and very interesting results. Norway has had a very high level in the qualifiers, especially with [Erling] Haaland, [Alexander] Sorloth scoring so many goals… So those are quality teams, but I think they’ll say just about the same thing about France.”
Egypt – Hossam Hassan “I trust my players because their level is very high, whether it’s Mohamed Salah, Marmoush, or the players in the Egyptian league, they have big ambition. But reaching the World Cup is complicated, and playing there is even harder. Still, I see the ambition in the players. They want to achieve more than what Egypt did in past World Cups. We want to show something positive, especially since we are the team with the most Africa Cup of Nations titles. We need to appear in a better way at the World Cup. This is my main goal.”
England – Thomas Tuchel “We improved a lot in September, October, November. We felt we found our energy and we found good performances and excellent results. And now it’s a bit unfair because now we’re fully excited, we know who we’ll play against, but we have to wait until March to meet the team again, and then we have to wait until June until the tournament starts. So that’s a little bit of a downside, but we’ll make sure that we’re ready.”
Brazil – Carlo Ancelotti “It’s a very difficult group. Morocco is very strong, and so is Scotland. Morocco did very well in the last World Cup, they’ve been performing very well, and Scotland also qualified for the World Cup by winning important matches in Europe. A very solid team, very strong physically. We have to be careful with this group, but I am confident in the quality of our national team.”
Argentina – Lionel Scaloni “They are tough opponents. Austria had a great qualifying campaign, and we believe they are a very good team. Algeria, too, because of the way they play, is an opponent to be wary of. And Jordan as well, they had a great qualifying campaign. We have continued to compete at the highest level, we have tried to bring in new players who can contribute that extra bit of youth, and that is what we will continue to try to do next year.”
Portugal – Roberto Martinez “Now with the Draw we can start preparing. We are happy to be in the group we are, because it allows us to play the first game on 17 June. This sets our preparation in a very clear direction. We will play against a team that is in the play-offs, so we don’t know who it will be. But we have a lot of respect for Colombia and Uzbekistan. They are teams that are going to be well prepared for the World Cup and will be challenging.” ”
Norway – Stale Solbakken “I think we had a great qualification [campaign]. We have been solid defensively and we have managed to get our best players in good positions so they can win the games for us. We have had a clear playing style I think in the offensive [third], which suits us well.”
