After being directly classified on Tuesday night and following yesterday's FIFA ranking update, Panama has officially been placed in pot three for the 2026 World Cup draw. The draw will take place next Friday, December 5th, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and is scheduled to start at 12:00 PM (Panama time). Ranked 30th in the world (up one spot), Panama joins pot three with the national teams of Norway, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. It is worth noting that for the 2018 World Cup draw in Russia, Panama was in pot four, which demonstrates the progress of Panamanian football in recent years. For the first time, there will be 48 participating teams, divided into 12 groups of four. The draw will determine these groups, although 6 spots will be left unnamed (4 from the European playoff and 2 from the intercontinental playoff), with their draw taking place today, Thursday, in Zurich, Switzerland, at 7:00 AM (Panama time). The teams representing the host countries will be assigned to positions A1 (Mexico), B1 (Canada), and D1 (United States) according to the match schedule. In the groups, teams from the same confederation cannot face each other, with the exception of Europe, as there will be two European teams in four groups.
