Bafana Bafana to potentially play France, Brazil, Argentina or England as FIFA reveals 2026 World Cup pots ahead of draw

Bafana Bafana are among the 42 teams, out of 48, that have their spots ready for the World Cup to be played from June 11 to July 19 next year.

The other African teams that have made it to the competition are Senegal, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Cape Verde, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.

They might be joined by the Democratic Republic of Congo, who are in the final hurdle of the intercontinental play-offs. 

South Africa have been put in Pot B, meaning they can be grouped with the likes of Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, and other heavyweights.

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2

"The draw will begin with all the teams from pot 1 being drawn to groups A to L. It will then continue with pots 2, 3 and 4 in that order," FIFA said ahead of the final group draw to be conducted on December 5 at John F. kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC.  

"For pot 1, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as the host countries, will be identified by different coloured balls and, when drawn, will be assigned to position A1 for Mexico (green ball), B1 for Canada (red ball) and D1 for the USA (blue ball), as already established per the match schedule released on 4 February 2024," FIFA posted. 

"The remaining nine top-ranked teams in pot 1 will be identified by nine balls of the same colour and automatically allocated to position 1 of the group into which they are drawn.

"To ensure competitive balance, two separate pathways to the semi-finals have been established when developing the match schedule. In order to have a balanced distribution of the teams, the four highest-ranked teams in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s Ranking, when drawn, will have the following constraints: the highest-ranked team (Spain) and the second highest-ranked team (Argentina) will be randomly drawn into opposite pathways, and the same principle will apply to the third (France) and fourth (England) highest-ranked teams. 

"This will ensure that, should they win their groups, the two highest-ranked teams will not meet before the final," they continued.

"For pots 2, 3 and 4, each team’s group position will be determined according to a predefined allocation pattern. This pattern is detailed in the table included in the draw procedures document. 

"A team’s position within the group will then be determined by the pot from which they are drawn and by the group into which they are drawn," the World Football Governing Body further clarified.

"In principle, no group will have more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it. This applies to all confederations except UEFA, which is represented by 16 teams. Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams drawn into it," FIFA explained. 

"For the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders, in order to comply with FIFA’s general principle to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it, the confederation constraint will be applied to all three teams within each pathway of the two FIFA Play-Off Tournament placeholders in pot 4," they concluded.

Prior to the World Cup, Bafana Bafana are set for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be played in Morocco from December 21.

Coach Broos has already named his preliminary squad for the biennial competition.