• Trump wins inaugural FIFA Peace Prize

The 2026 World Cup will kick off on June 11 with joint-hosts Mexico playing South Africa at the Azteca Stadium — venue of the 1970 and 1986 finals — followed by South Korea against a playoff winner after the draw was made on Friday.

South Africa are appearing for the first time since 2010, when they drew with Mexico in the opening match but failed to reach the knockout stage.

Fellow hosts the United States and Canada will join the party the next day, against Paraguay and a playoff winner — possibly Italy — respectively in Los Angeles and Toronto.

Defending champions Argentina were grouped with Algeria, Austria and Jordan, while five-times winners Brazil will play Morocco — semi-finalists in 2022 — Haiti and Scotland.

The Scots are appearing in the finals for the first time since 1998, when they lost to Brazil in the opening game.

France’s first game will be against Senegal in a repeat of one of the biggest tournament upsets, when the Africans stunned the then-holders in their first game of the 2002 tournament.

England will start against Croatia, who beat them in the 2018 semi-finals, and also face Panama, who they beat 6-1 in the group stage in the same tournament.

The teams outside the hosts’ groups will have to wait until Saturday to find out the venues and kickoff times for their games after FIFA attempts to optimise venues and kickoff times relating to the various worldwide TV markets.

A newly introduced seeding system ensures that the current top four in the world — Spain, holders Argentina, 2022 runners-up France and England — cannot meet until the semi-final stage if they win their groups.

The 48 teams — including six still-to-be-decided playoff winners — were divided into 12 groups of four to produce a mammoth 104-match schedule across 16 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, culminating in the final in New Jersey on July 19.

Meanwhile United States President Donald Trump received the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize before the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup.

The award has been introduced this year by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, designated for a person who has “taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace” and “united people across the world”.

It was widely expected that Trump, who arrived at the ceremony with Infantino and has made several public appearances with him in recent months, would be the winner.

That was confirmed at the ceremony in Washington DC on Friday.

As well as receiving a large golden trophy, Trump was also given a medal and certificate by Infantino before making a speech.

Trump stated he had saved “tens of millions of lives” through diplomatic interventions and had “stopped wars happening just before they started”.

“This is truly one of the great honours of my life,” Trump said, before claiming that the 2026 World Cup has set a new record for ticket sales.

Trump later returned to the stage alongside Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to perform the ceremonial opening to the draw.

The three leaders drew the balls of their respective nations, which had already been assigned their groups. Afterwards, the trio posed for a selfie taken by Infantino.

2026 FIFA World Cup Group Stage Draw:

Group ‘A’: Mexico, South Africa South Korea, European Playoff D

Group ‘B’: Canada, European Playoff A, Qatar, Switzerland

Group ‘C’: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland

Group ‘D’: United States, Paraguay, Australia, European Playoff C

Group ‘E’: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador

Group ‘F’: Netherlands, Japan, European Playoff B, Tunisia

Group ‘G’: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand

Group ‘H’: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay

Group ‘I’: France, Senegal, FIFA Playoff 2, Norway

Group ‘J’: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan

Group ‘K’: Portugal, FIFA Playoff 1, Uzbekistan, Colombia