Top dogs on either side of World Cup draw, Ireland in pot 4

Ireland's Troy Parrott celebrates the late winner against Hungary. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Ireland are in pot 4 for the World Cup draw on December 5, alongside fellow play-off hopefuls Northern Ireland and Wales.

The boys in green will soon find out who they'll be up against if they get through the play-offs in March.

Meanwhile, England are set to benefit from tennis-style seeding at next summer’s World Cup and avoid Spain and Argentina until the semi-finals and France until the final – if all those teams win their groups.

FIFA is introducing a tennis-style system for the 2026 World Cup knockout stages, having adopted a similar format for the Club World Cup earlier this year.

The top two teams in the current FIFA rankings – Spain and Argentina – will be on opposite draw pathways, as will the third and fourth-ranked sides, France and England.

Those four teams would then be placed in different quadrants of the 32-team knockout phase if they all come top of their groups.

That would mean England potentially not coming up against European champions Spain or world champions Argentina until the semi-finals, and remaining apart from France until the final.

The draw for the finals will take place in Washington DC on December 5, starting at 5pm UK time.

England are among the top seeds, while Scotland are in pot three. England and Scotland could be drawn against each other, but that possibility will be removed if England draw a European opponent from pot two.

A maximum of two European teams can be placed in each group. Teams from the other confederations must be kept apart.

As previously mentioned, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales are in pot four, with Northern Ireland and Wales battling for one spot in play-off path A.

The draw is expected to last between 45 and 50 minutes. A significant chunk of time will be saved because group position by pot has been predetermined rather than forming part of the draw as it has in the past.

For instance, if Scotland are drawn into Group A, as the team from pot three they would automatically be put in position two, or ‘A2’ for the purposes of the fixture schedule. The positioning varies from group to group.

Kick-off times and the allocation of matches to stadiums will be announced on December 6, the day after the draw. The allocation process will be designed to ensure the best possible conditions for all teams while, where possible, enabling fans all over the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones.

Organisers indicated on Friday there will be no movement of matches away from current host cities, despite US President Donald Trump threatening to relocate games.

The PA news agency also understands Haiti and Iran will not be deliberately excluded from playing matches in the United States, despite fans from both countries being subject to travel bans into the US.