Russia can already draw a definitive line under the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. On Thursday, November 28, FIFA published the composition of the different pots for the draw for the European zone qualifiers, scheduled for December 13 in Zurich. Russia is not included. It is therefore effectively excluded from the competition, even before its initial phase in Europe. The world body explains this in a press release: " Following the release of the men's world rankings earlier today, the procedure and seedings have been confirmed for UEFA's preliminary draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. » Pot 1, which groups the top seeds, will include the eight UEFA Nations League quarter-finalists – Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – plus the four highest-ranked European nations, England, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. The remaining teams are divided into pots 2 to 5 based on their position in the world rankings.
