The draw for the 2026 World Cup final phase groups will take place on Friday

The 2026 World Cup is eagerly anticipated, and FIFA has announced the details of the group-stage draw, which will take place on December 5, along with the four seeding pots.

The draw for the group stage of the 2026 World Cup final phase will be held on Friday, December 5, 2025, at the “Kennedy Center” in Washington, USA. The draw will begin at 12:00 local time (19:00 Cyprus time). The teams representing the host nations will be placed in positions A1 (Mexico), B1 (Canada), and D1 (USA), according to the match schedule published by FIFA last year.

In the sixteen cities hosting matches across the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the kickoff times for viewers in Greece will be between seven and ten hours ahead of the local stadium time. Although FIFA will announce the detailed schedule in the coming days, it is considered certain that at least one match per day will be played late at night or after midnight Cyprus time.

Friday’s draw will reveal only which group each national team will enter, while the exact host cities and match times will be announced once the full schedule is published. For example, it is already known that Group G will be hosted in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Seattle, but the exact dates and times for each country will be finalized on Saturday. Only the host nations already know their cities; for instance, Mexico as a host will play in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and again in Mexico City.

The time differences between Cyprus and the cities hosting matches of the 2026 World Cup vary significantly, creating a demanding TV schedule for Cypriot fans. The largest differences occur on the U.S. and Canadian West Coast, where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver are ten hours behind Cyprus and Greece. This means that an afternoon match held there local time will be broadcast in Cyprus late at night or even after midnight.

A slightly smaller time difference is found in the Mexican cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey, which are nine hours behind Greek time. In these cases, matches starting early in the afternoon in Mexico will reach Cyprus late at night, while evening matches turn into… the early hours of the morning.

In the Central and Southern United States, such as Dallas, Houston, and Kansas City, the difference is eight hours, resulting in somewhat more manageable broadcast times—though late-night games will still occur depending on the schedule. Finally, the eastern U.S. and Canadian cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Toronto are seven hours behind our local time.

In these cases, most matches will be broadcast in Cyprus and Greece early in the evening or late in the afternoon. Overall, the time difference from the World Cup host cities ranges from seven to ten hours, ensuring a particularly “fragmented” schedule for those wishing to follow the tournament from Cyprus.

Los Angeles: -10 hours
San Francisco: -10 hours
Seattle: -10 hours
Vancouver: -10 hours
Guadalajara: -9 hours
Mexico City: -9 hours
Monterrey: -9 hours
Dallas: -8 hours
Houston: -8 hours
Kansas City: -8 hours
Atlanta: -7 hours
Boston: -7 hours
Miami: -7 hours
New York: -7 hours
Philadelphia: -7 hours
Toronto: -7 hours

Νέα Υόρκη -7 ώρες

Φιλαδέλφεια -7 ώρες

Τορόντο -7 ώρες