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Group A

This opening fixture at the famous Azteca Stadium will replay the first game from 2010, when Bafana Bafana tied 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's knockout stage record at the global tournament includes just a single win, achieved against Bulgaria when they previously were hosts in 1986. Their coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that squad and will be aiming for a third-ever quarter-final berth as hosts. South Africa, led by experienced Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first finals since they hosted, finishing above Nigeria and Benin despite having a victory over Lesotho awarded against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

This will represent Korea Republic's eleventh straight World Cup qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball voting when South Korea made the last four in 2002. Hong is now their coach and guided them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the World Cup on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the best group of players in their nation's history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears depends largely on whether Italy make it through the European play-off (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the group stage in four of the last five tournaments and were last-eight participants at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side qualified unbeaten from probably the most straightforward of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. Qatar, having finished fourth in their third-round qualifying section, were given a major boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth phase and clinched qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their last outing, when they were defeated to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the place of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the elimination stage for the very first time after eight previous group-stage exits. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three defeats than for the ordeal that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited away support due to a travel ban involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive defeats, but there is little jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has overseen a noticeable upturn in form. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the strongest of the north African nations, able both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter-attack, securing qualification with a 100% win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, losing to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendlies. But over the last year, Mauricio Pochettino has apparently begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in friendlies. They will start against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian side and their squad is without obvious superstars, but despite an shaky start to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The group’s fourth team will come from the victor of Europe’s playoff C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

Following back-to-back group phase eliminations, Germany are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking philosophy has brought a vulnerability and the draw initially looked like presenting a massive test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the surprise package of qualifying, ending up second behind Argentina in South America. While they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a paltry five.

Ivory Coast exist in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden squad of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, netting 25 goals and conceding reply.

The smallest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team drawn, though, making the group look a lot far less daunting than it might have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side maybe lack the star quality of past Dutch generations, but they qualified without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualifying, always looks a more reliable performer with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will play in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a total goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive World Cup berth by dominating a straightforward qualifying group, accumulating 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are maybe not as dour as certain past Tunisian teams; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will create a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Pool G

Belgium and Egypt are moving on from the shadow of their most talented generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, scoring the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having failed to qualify during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defensive unit that conceded only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who sailed through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest FIFA-ranked side to have secured their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated only once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, possibly