2026 FIFA World Cup Draw to be Held at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The FIFA 2026 World Cup Draw will be held December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump announced Friday morning with FIFA President Gianni Infantino among those on hand.

The draw was held in Las Vegas the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994. While Las Vegas was for months expected to host the event — Mexican media and other American outlets reported a deal was done earlier this month — local sources told SportsTravel that no agreement was reached even as U.S. Soccer told host cities there would be a summit gathering the day before the draw and that it would be in Las Vegas.

SportsTravel had reported in the spring that Las Vegas was a leading candidate to host the draw; one Las Vegas property had more than 4,000 suites reserved for FIFA around the scheduled draw date. The rooms that FIFA had asked to be blocked off were released earlier this month after months of negotiations; those in Las Vegas who had been negotiating with FIFA received a generic email from the organization this morning informing them a different location had been chosen.

While Las Vegas has been widely expected to host the draw, the spector of Trump loomed throughout the process in large part due to the relationship between Infantino and Trump. Infantino has been seen with Trump more than a dozen times since the inauguration after not having one in-person meeting with the previous administration.

Infantino visited Trump in the Oval Office in March after a White House Task Force for the World Cup was announced and was at the first meeting of the group in May, where there was reaction to multiple mentions about the potential of visitors overstaying their welcome. Infantino also delayed his arrival at May’s annual FIFA Congress, held in Paraguay, to join Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia, where the 2034 World Cup will be held. Infantino’s late arrival on private jet flights from Qatar forced FIFA’s annual meeting to start more than three hours late and led to a mid-meeting walkout in protest by senior officials from European soccer body UEFA at the “deeply regrettable” delay.

FIFA has opened an office at Trump Tower in New York City and the family was part of the Club World Cup draw. When Chelsea won the Club World Cup title, there were reports that the trophy the club was given was a replica of the original still in Trump’s possession. Trump helped Infantino present the trophy to Chelsea captain Reece James, with Trump staying front and center despite confusion of Chelsea players and pleading of Infantino to move to the side of the stage.

FIFA’s official announcement about the draw says it will be held at noon local time, which also puts it in a prime-time TV position for its European broadcast partners.

New Approach for the Draw

The draw will be the first FIFA 2026-related event not to be at a host city. The host cities announcement was made from a TV studio in New York before the logo was revealed in Los Angeles. When the schedule was released and New York/New Jersey was awarded the final, Infantino made the announcement from a TV studio in Miami.

The 2026 World Cup starts June 11, 2026, at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and will be FIFA’s biggest ever with 48 teams and 104 matches in 16 cities. The U.S. host cities will be Atlanta, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, New York/New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia and Miami. In Canada, Vancouver and Toronto were selected. In Mexico, matches will be played in Monterrey, Mexico City and Guadalajara.

The draw will finalize the groups and give countries the chance to know where they will play in the group stage as well as their potential knockout round paths. After the draw, countries will begin the process of selecting base camps from the 62 options around North America. Teams will submit their selections for base camps, with selection order based on a team’s world ranking.

Host country sites for the group stage have been decided; the U.S. will have two games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle. Should it finish first in its group, the U.S. would have a round of 32 game in San Francisco, then potentially a round of 16 game in Seattle and quarterfinal in Los Angeles. If the U.S. finishes second in its group, its knockout-round path would start in the round of 32 in Dallas, followed by potentially a round of 16 game in Atlanta and quarterfinal in Kansas City.

Along with the three co-hosts, countries that already qualified for the 2026 World Cup are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, Iran, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, South Korea and Uzbekistan. While the draw will be in December, there will be two spots not yet determined when it is made; the final six-country, inter-confederation playoff will not be held until March 2026 and is due to be held in one of the three host nations as a test event.