Revealed: Pots for the World Cup draw with England among the top seeds and Scotland facing potential group of death after qualifying in dramatic style
Scotland will take their place in pot three for the 2026 World Cup draw after securing a return to the finals for the first time since 1998 with a wild 4-2 victory over Denmark.
Steve Clarke’s side went top of Group C on a dramatic night at Hampden when Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean struck in stoppage time to send Scotland back to the World Cup for the first time in 27 years.
Players and fans will certainly be celebrating well into the night, but in just over two weeks, attention will quickly turn to the draw in North America.
The draw will be held on December 5 at 5pm at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where the 48-team tournament will be scheduled for the first expanded World Cup to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Pot allocations are made based on FIFA rankings; Scotland are now confirmed in Pot 3 along with Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Paraguay and Ivory Coast.
This means that Clarke’s men have a very good chance of winning one of the tournament’s heavyweights in the group stage. Pot 1 includes countries such as Argentina, Spain, France, England, Germany and Portugal.
Scotland will take its place in the third pot of the 2026 World Cup draw by defeating Denmark 4-2.
England are in the top 12 in the draw and will be one of the favorites in the competition
Next summer’s tournament will be the biggest World Cup in history and will be held in three countries. Picture: (LR) US President Donald Trump, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Meanwhile, Pot 2 includes well-established tournament sides such as Croatia, Uruguay, Japan and Switzerland. One team from each pot will form a group of four for a total of 12 groups in the 2026 finals.
As always, confederation rules apply to ensure that teams from the same region cannot be brought together, except for UEFA, where a maximum of two European countries can be placed in the same group.
The three host countries, Canada, Mexico and the United States, will be assigned to groups A, B and D, respectively.
Scotland’s qualification means Clarke has taken his side to three of the last four major tournaments, following Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
Captain Andy Robertson admitted the emotion of the night would stay with him for life, while John McGinn said he had “never felt anything like it in a football stadium”.
McGinn added that Scotland were ‘pretty ridiculous at times’ but praised the response after Denmark equalized twice and tipped the contest in Scotland’s favor after Rasmus Kristensen’s soft second yellow card.
Lawrence Shankland’s header restored the lead before Tierney and McLean settled the issue in injury time.
Although Scotland can now prepare for the finals, many European countries still need to qualify for the play-offs.
Troy Parrott’s hat-trick helps Republic of Ireland secure a place in next year’s play-offs
Wales will also be competing for a place in next summer’s tournament after qualifying for the play-offs.
While Italy, Denmark, Türkiye and Ukraine are in the first place, Wales, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia are in the second pot.
Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and the Republic of Ireland are in the 3rd pot, while Sweden, Romania, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland are in the 4th pot.
Semi-final routes will be determined on Thursday. The World Cup play-offs will take place in March 2026 and will consist of four “tracks”, one for each available spot in the finals.
