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Group A

The first fixture at the historic Azteca venue will mirror the opener from 2010, when South Africa drew 1-1 with El Tri. Mexico's elimination stage record at the global tournament features just a single victory, achieved against Bulgaria when they last hosted in 1986. Their manager, Javier Aguirre, was a forward in that team and will be aiming for a third-ever last-eight berth as hosts. The South African side, led by veteran Belgian manager Hugo Broos, qualified for their initial World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin despite having a win over Lesotho given against them for fielding an ineligible footballer.

It will represent South Korea's 11th successive finals qualification. Icon Hong Myung-bo played in four of those, and finished in third place in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the semi-final in 2002. Hong is now their manager and led them without a loss through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a European playoff featuring the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have qualified for the global finals twice and, although Qatar 2022 brought their maiden finals goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the head coach of arguably the best group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. How favorable the group appears hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA playoff (the remaining three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

Following failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, Switzerland have got through the initial phase in four of the past five tournaments and were quarter-finalists at the past two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket unbeaten from arguably the easiest of the UEFA qualifying groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, have players hoping to play at their fourth finals. Qatar, having ended up in fourth in their third phase qualifying section, were handed a major advantage by being selected as a host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 win over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is drawn exclusively from the domestic league.

Group C

Scotland's return to the finals in 28 years bears a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and Morocco; the Haitian team occupy the spot of Norway. Their aim will be to progress to the knockout phase for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only previous finals, in 1974, was notable less for their three defeats than for the fate that happened to midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after failing a drugs test, was assaulted by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have restricted away support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third manager in a qualification campaign that featured a run of three consecutive losses, but there is minimal jeopardy in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022, Morocco appear the strongest of the north African nations, able both of dominating opponents and playing on the counter-attack, qualifying with a perfect record.

Group D

At the start of 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 friendlies. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his ideas across and in November the USA defeated Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are playing in their 6th finals. They have secured one game at each of the previous five, a record that has resulted to both group phase eliminations and a quarter-final place. Their familiar cautious mindset hasn't altered: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

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

Pool E

Following back-to-back group phase exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the bogeymen of old. The transition to a more attacking philosophy has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like presenting a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The Ecuadorian team were the revelations of qualification, finishing second behind Argentina in South America. Although they scored only 14 goals in 18 games, a backline including Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, conceded a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the glorious squad of 15-20 years ago. But since assuming control during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, head coach Emerse Faé has proved inspirational. Following an improbable continental triumph on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

The tiniest country ever to reach the finals, Curaçao, were the final team picked, however, making the group look a lot less daunting than it could have been.

Group F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of past Dutch eras, but they secured qualification without losing and Memphis Depay, who bagged eight goals in qualification, always looks a more reliable performer with his country's side than at club level. They open against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by some way the most impressive of the Asian sides in qualifying, losing one of their 16 games across the two groups, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

Tunisia made sure of a third straight World Cup appearance by topping a straightforward qualifying group, picking up 28 points of a available 30. Sami Trabelsi’s team are maybe not as dour as some past Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 separate goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden make it through the European play-off (against Ukraine in the semi-final, then either Poland or Albania in the final), that will set up a rematch of the group stage game in Dortmund in 1974 when Johan Cruyff first executed the famous Cruyff Turn.

Group G

Belgium and the Pharaohs are emerging from the legacy of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but letting in five in two wins over Wales, scoring freely at times, but also laboring to a 1-1 draw away to Kazakhstan.

Egypt are the most successful side in African history, but having failed to reach the finals during their golden period 15-20 years ago, they have never quite done themselves justice on the global stage. Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush give them cutting edge, but it was a defence that allowed just twice in 10 games that meant they qualified undefeated.

A reserved place for Oceania effectively meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualification, winning five games out of five, netting 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. Team Melli, who lost once in a difficult third phase qualification group, are on a list of restricted nations, potentially