S. Korea to face Mexico, South Africa, European qualifier at 2026 FIFA World Cup

SEOUL — South Korea will take on Mexico, South Africa, and a European playoff qualifier in the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The draw for the 23rd edition of football's premier event took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday (local time). Co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the 2026 World Cup, set to run from June 11 to July 19, will be the largest tournament in history. South Korea will play in their 11th consecutive World Cup and 12th overall. They have reached the knockout stage three times — reaching the semifinals in 2002 as co-hosts and the round of 16 in 2010 in South Africa and in 2022 in Qatar. There will be 12 groups of four teams each at the upcoming World Cup. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage, and the eight best third-placed teams will join them. At Friday's draw, the 42 countries that had already qualified were placed into four "pots," based on their FIFA ranking positions from November. The three co-hosts — United States, Canada, and Mexico — were automatically placed in Pot 1, regardless ofWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times