2026 World Cup Draw Will Be Held At The Kennedy Center In December

President Donald Trump when receiving a visit from FIFA President Gianni Infantino (Instagram/@gianni_infantino).

JAKARTA - The draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025. The President of the United States (US), Donald Trump, announced this on Friday, August 22, 2025, local time.

"This is the biggest event, perhaps the biggest in the sport, I think," Trump, who made the announcement at an event in the Oval Room, where he was accompanied by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Vice President JD Vance.

The 2026 World Cup will be held across the United States, Canada, and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July 2026.

Next year's agenda will be the first World Cup organized by three countries and the first with an expansion to 48 teams.

Sixteen venues have been selected to host the games, with 11 in the US, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.

The draw, which Infantino says will take place during the day local time, will divide the 48 teams that qualify into 12 groups, each consisting of four teams.

The top two teams from each group plus the eight best third-placed teams will advance to the knockout stages.

Trump said 48 teams would play 104 games in one month and equate it to the '104 Super Bowl'.

"It's like having a lot of Super Bowls in a short time, because every game is, basically, a Super Bowl. Some of them are even bigger than the Super Bowl," Trump said.

He further said that the Kennedy Center would give a phenomenal start. When asked if he would actually code the name of the team, Trump did not answer directly but handed it over to Infantino, saying that the FIFA president was his boss.

The choice of this place is interesting because Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center, placed himself as chairman and replaced the supervisory board with loyalists.

He also hinted that the place was changed to Trump/Kennedy Center.

This event is traditionally a combination of entertainment and business.

Earlier, ESPN reported last month that Las Vegas would host the draw on December 5, 2025.

This refers to when the United States hosted the World Cup in 1994, the draw was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and great Wonder was among its performers.

When the draw is held in December 2025, 42 of the 48 teams will be known, including the automatic places given to the United States, Mexico, and Canada as hosts.

The remaining six teams will be determined through the playoffs in March 2026.

The World Cup will start on June 11, 2026 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and last until the final on July 19, 2026 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Matches will be played in 16 cities in the three countries. Washington, DC, is not among the host cities.

Donald Trump also took advantage of the FIFA announcement to discuss the deployment of the National Guard and the federalization of the Washington police.

"So now, when we host this beautiful event in December 2025, everything will be very safe," Trump said.

He added that Gianni Infantino could take a walk with his family and take him to dinner.

When asked about overseas fans getting US visas to watch the World Cup, Trump initially said the process would run smoothly, but only for certain countries.

"Specific countries will be very, very easy, and other countries will obviously be a bit more difficult," Trump said.

In addition to the three host countries, 10 teams have secured their place in the final round, namely Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Argentina, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Brazil, and Ecuador.

FIFA also confirmed that a new playoffs tournament, which will feature six countries - five of the six confederations - are competing for the last two places in the 2026 World Cup. The agenda will be held in North America in March 2026.

Following the announcement of the draw, Infantino gave Trump a ticket to the 2026 World Cup final, which the FIFA president said was the first ticket available for the upcoming tournament.

World Cup 2026 ticket registration opens on September 10, 2025. FIFA said that due to high demand, tickets would be released in stages.

In an unusual move, Infantino also brought the World Cup trophy with him to the Oval Room.

Trump then tried to lift the trophy and joked about keeping and displaying it in the Oval Room.

"This sidewalk is quite heavy. A beautiful piece of gold. This trophy is very fitting to be displayed on the wall there (one part of the Oval Room)," Trump said.