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Group A

This first fixture at the famous Azteca venue will echo the opener from 2010, when Bafana Bafana drew 1-1 with Mexico. The Mexican team's knockout phase history at the worldwide tournament features just a single victory, secured against Bulgaria when they previously hosted in 1986. The coach, Javier Aguirre, played as an attacker in that team and will be targeting a third-ever last-eight appearance as hosts. South Africa, led by veteran Belgian tactician Hugo Broos, qualified for their first World Cup since hosting, ending above Nigeria and Benin even after having a win over Lesotho given against them for using an suspended footballer.

It will mark South Korea's eleventh successive World Cup qualification. Legend Hong Myung-bo featured in four of those, and came third in the Golden Ball award when South Korea made the last four in 2002. He is now their manager and led them unbeaten through a anything but straightforward qualification group. The fourth team in Group A will be the winner of a European qualifying play-off involving the Czech Republic, Denmark, North Macedonia, or the Republic of Ireland.

Pool B

Canada have made it for the global finals on two occasions and, although Qatar 2022 brought their first finals goal, it did not deliver their first point. Jesse Marsch is the manager of arguably the most talented group of players in their history, with key men like Jonathan David at Juventus and Alphonso Davies at Bayern Munich. The extent to which kind the group appears hinges mostly on whether Italy progress through the UEFA play-off (the other three teams are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, and Wales).

After failing to qualify in 1998 and 2002, the Swiss have got through the initial phase in four of the past five World Cups and were quarter-finalists at the last two European Championships. Murat Yakin’s side booked their ticket without defeat from arguably the easiest of the UEFA groups and, with veterans like Ricardo Rodriguez and Granit Xhaka, boast players hoping to feature at their fourth World Cups. The Qatari team, having finished in fourth in their third phase qualification section, were given a major advantage by being chosen as a host for the final phase and secured qualification with a 2-1 victory over the UAE. Julen Lopetegui’s entire squad is selected entirely from the Qatari league.

Pool C

Scotland's first World Cup in 28 years looks a lot like their previous outing, when they lost to Brazil and the Atlas Lions; the Haitian team take the spot of Norway. Their primary objective will be to progress to the elimination phase for the very first time after 8 previous group phase eliminations. Haiti’s only prior World Cup, in 1974, was remembered less for their three losses than for the fate that befell midfielder Ernst Jean-Joseph who, after testing positive in a drugs test, was beaten by Haitian army officers before being sent back. They will have limited traveling support due to travel restrictions involving the USA.

Carlo Ancelotti became Brazil’s third coach in a qualifying campaign that included a streak of three consecutive losses, but there is little risk in South American qualifying these days. He has presided over a clear improvement. Last-four participants in Qatar in 2022, Morocco look the best of the north African sides, capable both of overwhelming rivals and playing on the counter, qualifying with a perfect win record.

Pool D

At the start of last year, the United States seemed in a dismal condition, suffering defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League and to Turkey and Switzerland in friendly matches. But over the past year, Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly begun to get his message across and in November the USA beat Paraguay before thrashing Uruguay 5-1 in exhibition games. They will start against the Paraguayan side, who are competing in their sixth World Cup. They have won one game at each of the previous five, a statistic that has resulted to both group-stage eliminations and a last-eight appearance. Their familiar cautious approach has not changed: they scored only 14 goals in their 18 games in South American qualification.

This is not the most fluent Australian team and their squad lacks obvious stars, but in spite of an shaky beginning to the third phase of Asian qualifying, Tony Popovic’s side made it by defeating Japan at home and Saudi Arabia away under immense pressure in their last two matches. The pool's fourth team will emerge from the winner of the European Play-off C (Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, or Turkey).

Group E

After back-to-back group-stage exits, Die Mannschaft are no longer the feared force of old. The shift to a more attacking style has brought a fragility and the draw initially looked like posing a huge challenge to Julian Nagelsmann’s side. Ecuador were the revelations of qualifying, ending up in second place behind Argentina in South America. While they netted only 14 goals in 18 games, a defence featuring Willian Pacho of Paris Saint-Germain and Piero Hincapié of Arsenal, protected by Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, let in a mere five.

Côte d’Ivoire live in a state of constant declinism, where nothing is ever as good as the golden generation of 15-20 years ago. But since taking charge during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, manager Emerse Faé has proved transformative. After an implausible continental success on home soil, Côte d’Ivoire were ruthless in qualifying, scoring 25 goals without none.

The tiniest country ever to qualify, the Curaçao team, were the final team drawn, however, making the group look a lot less intimidating than it might have appeared.

Pool F

Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side perhaps lack the star quality of previous Dutch eras, but they secured qualification unbeaten and Memphis Depay, who scored eight goals in qualification, consistently appears a more effective player with his country's side than at domestic level. They begin against the Japanese team, who will participate in their 8th successive finals, and were by far the most dominant of the Asian nations in qualification, losing one of their 16 games across the two phases, with a combined goal difference of 54-3.

The Tunisian side secured of a third consecutive finals appearance by dominating a manageable qualifying section, picking up 28 points of a possible 30. Sami Trabelsi’s squad are perhaps not as defensive as some previous Tunisian teams; they had a remarkable 14 different goalscorers in qualifying. If Graham Potter’s Sweden progress through the UEFA 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

The Belgian Red Devils and the Pharaohs are moving on from the shadow of golden generations. Rudi Garcia’s Belgium were inconsistent in qualifying, finding the net eight times but conceding five in two wins over Wales, finding goals freely at times, but also struggling 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 only twice in 10 games that ensured they qualified unbeaten.

A reserved place for Oceania essentially meant a spot at the finals for the All Whites, who cruised through qualifying, winning five games out of five, netting 29 goals, nine of them by Chris Wood, but they are the lowest-ranked side to have booked their place in North America next summer. Iran, who were defeated once in a difficult third-round qualifying group, are on a travel ban, potentially