SEATTLE—With just 187 days left until the world’s largest sporting event hits Seattle, local organizing committee SeattleFWC26 hosted a watch party for the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026 at Stoup Brewery in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood Friday, December 5.
The watch party featured special guests SeattleFWC26 CEO Peter Tomozawa, former Seattle University Soccer coach Peter Fewing, and former Seattle Sounder player Lamar Nagle as guest speakers, raffles, giveaways, food provided by local food trucks, a VIP watch room for esteemed guests, and of course a selection of Stoup Brewing beers and coffee.
The FIFA Draw is an event where national soccer teams, who are qualified to compete in the World Cup, are assigned to groups for the tournament’s initial stage, using FIFA rankings and confederation rules to ensure a balanced competition.
Today’s broadcast was tuned in by billions of soccer enthusiasts all over the world, eager to learn, firsthand, which countries will be pitted against each other when the world cup kicks off next June.
Seattle’s draw event watch party projected the live event on a large projector screen, and several televisions set up around the brewery, but the official draw was held in Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center following President Donald Trump receiving an inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
“This is truly one of the great honors of my life and beyond,” said President Trump at Friday’s draw. “I don’t need prizes. I need to save lives. I saved millions and millions of lives, and that’s really what I want to do.”
Joining President Trump on stage were co-hosts Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino as host.
Together, these co-hosts took turns drawing countries to determine which groups they will be competing in throughout the upcoming 104 matches.
These 104 matches will take place in cities throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada with Seattle being just one U.S. city selected as a host city. Other U.S. cities that will hold matches include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
In a one-on-one interview with SeattleFWC26 CEO Peter Tomazowa, he informed the Lynnwood Times that planning for the FIFA World Cup coming to Seattle is going swimmingly, stressing that the organizing and preparation efforts have not only been focused on supporting the 750,000 visitors who are expected to flock to Seattle during the World Cup, but ensuring FWC26 sets the region up for everlasting social and economic impacts.
“Our focus has always never just been about hosting six matches in the summer of 2026, but maximizing the economic and social impact benefits of having the world’s largest event be right here in our backyard,” Tomozawa told the Lynnwood Times.
With President Trump suggesting he may relocate FIFA World Cup games from cities, like Seattle, if they do not cooperate with federal crime and safety standards, Tomozawa was then asked what the SeattleFWC26 is doing to ensure games in Seattle proceed according to plan.
“We’re good. We speak to the White House task force literally every week. We are lock step in the planning of security, we are so dialed in at an international, national, state, and local level,” said Tomozawa.
One of the first people Tomozawa brought on to the organizing committee was former Seattle Police Chief John Diaz showcasing that public safety, and inclusivity, has always been his top priority. Recently the SeattleFWC26 traveled to the White House to ask for funding to support security measures and protocol and received every penny of the $625 million ask.
Tomozawa also credited Washington State for all the work they’ve done in preparations including renovating stadiums.
“The World Cup is the largest unification event in the world. There’s no other event that brings people from all walks of life, whatever your orientation is, whatever your political beliefs are, whatever your religious beliefs are, we all come together in the summer of 2026,” said Tomozawa. “I can’t wait for my grandkids, and my kids, to see this. I was in Qatar and it was humanity at its best.”
Also speaking at Friday’s event was former Seattle University soccer coach Peter Fewing who told the Lynnwood Times
“I was born the year of the Seattle World’s Fair and this is something similar. This World Cup will showcase Seattle in such a great way,” said Fewing. “We’ll almost double our population for a few weeks, so it will be a great boom economically, but it will also be such a wonderful experience of melting all these countries together, cultures together, it will be a lot of fun.”
To put things into perspective, Fewing added that the World Cup is equivalent to 104 Super Bowls – six of which will be held in the Seattle area.
Up north, in Snohomish County, Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) spoke at a similar draw watch party in Everett, which was selected as an official FIFA Fan Zone location along with eight other fan zones across Washington.
Larsen is the co-Chair of the Congressional Soccer Caucus and a lifelong player, fan and advocate for the game.
In fact, earlier this week, Larsen (who is also ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure) introduced legislation – the Transportation Assistance for Olympic and World Cup Cities Act – which would authorize $50 million in funding each year to improve transportation infrastructure in the cities hosting next year’s—and future—Olympic and World Cup games.
“USMNT’s success on the field is inevitable, and this bipartisan bill makes sure the United States succeeds off the field, too,” said Larsen. “The World Cup needs world-class infrastructure to ensure teams and their fans can safely travel to and from every game. That’s why we’re unlocking millions of dollars in funding for host cities—like Seattle in my home state—to improve their transportation infrastructure before the opening whistle.”
The results of Friday’s FIFA World Cup draw
The 48 participating teams were divided into the following groups:
Group A
- Mexico
- South Africa (matched against South Korea)
- South Korea (matched against South Africa)
- European Playoff D (Denmark, North Macedonia, Czechia, Ireland)
Group B
- Canada
- European Playoff A (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
- Qatar
- Switzerland
Group C
- Brazil
- Morocco
- Haiti
- Scotland
Group D
- United States
- Paraguay
- Australia
- European Playoff C (Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia, Kosovo)
Group E
- Germany
- Curaçao
- Ivory Coast
- Ecuador
Group F
- Netherlands
- Japan
- European Playoff B (Ukraine, Sweden, Poland, Albania)
- Tunisia
Group G
- Belgium
- Egypt
- Iran
- New Zealand
Group H
- Spain
- Cape Verde
- Saudi Arabia
- Uruguay
Group I
- France
- Senegal
- FIFA Intercontinental Playoff Tournament 2 (Bolivia, Suriname, Iraq)
- Norway
Group J
- Argentina
- Algeria
- Austria
- Jordan
Group K
- Portugal
- FIFA Intercontinental Playoff Tournament 1 (Jamaica, New Caledonia, DR Congo)
- Uzbekistan
- Colombia
Group L
- England
- Croatia
- Ghana
- Panama
Specific matchups, kickoff times, venues (locations), and schedule will be announced during a follow-up draw event tomorrow, Saturday, December 6, starting at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, 9 a.m. Pacific. You can tune-in to the announcement live at Fifa.com.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
