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Group A

The first fixture at the famous Azteca Stadium will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. The Mexican team's elimination stage record at the global showpiece includes just one victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last were hosts in 1986. The manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be targeting a third-ever quarter-final berth as tournament hosts. The South African side, coached by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since they hosted, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a victory over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended player.

It will mark Korea Republic's 11th consecutive finals qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea reached the semi-final in 2002. He is now their coach and guided them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualifying group. The final team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Group B

The Canadian team have qualified for the World Cup on two occasions and, while Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not bring their first-ever finals point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of probably the most talented group of players in their history, with stars like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the draw appears depends mostly on whether the Italian national team make it through the UEFA playoff (the other three contenders are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the last five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from probably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast individuals hoping to play at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were given a significant boost by being selected as a tournament host for the fourth round and clinched qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the Qatari league.

Group C

Scotland return to the finals in 28 years looks a lot like their previous appearance, when they lost to the Seleção and Morocco; Haiti occupy the place of Norway. Their aim will be to make it to the knockout phase for the first time after 8 previous group phase exits. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being deported. They will have restricted traveling support due to a travel ban from the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three successive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the best of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect record.

Pool D

Early last year, the United States seemed in a poor state, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before routing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will begin against Paraguay, who are playing in their 6th World Cup. They have won one game at each of the prior five, a statistic that has led to both group phase exits and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualifying.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their roster is without obvious superstars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third phase of Asian qualification, Tony Popovic’s side qualified by beating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under intense pressure in their last two fixtures. The pool's final team will come from the victor of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Pool E

After successive group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more progressive philosophy has introduced a fragility and the group initially looked like presenting a huge test to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the surprise package of qualification, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, shielded by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a paltry five.

Ivory Coast live in a state of permanent declinism, where nothing is ever quite good as the glorious generation of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were clinical in qualification, scoring 25 goals without none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, Curaçao, were the fourth team picked, however, making the group look a lot less daunting than it might have appeared.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps do not possess the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they qualified unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always appears a more reliable player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against Japan, who will play in their eighth successive finals, and were by some way the most dominant of the Asian sides in qualification, suffering one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third consecutive World Cup berth by topping a straightforward qualification section, accumulating 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are perhaps not as dour as some previous Tunisian sides; they had a staggering 14 different scorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a repeat of the group game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first performed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

The Belgian Red Devils and Egypt are emerging from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were erratic in qualification, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring easily at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African football history, but having not managed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never fully fulfilled their potential on the world stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that conceded just twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively equated to a spot at the finals for New Zealand, who sailed through qualifying, winning five games out of five, scoring 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest FIFA-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who lost only once in a tricky third phase qualifying section, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially