CONCACAF divides countries in 6 groups for next round of World Cup certifying

World Cup certifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean took shape Thursday with the draw for a 30-nation 2nd round that will narrow the field to 12 finalists for 3 automated berths to signupwith the United States, Mexico and Canada in the 2026 competition.

The area’s 3 biggest countries gotten automated slots as co-hosts of the broadened 48-nation, 104-game competition.

Under the format revealed last February, CONCACAF’s lowest-ranked groups play home-and-home series this March to reach the 2nd round, with Anguilla dealingwith the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands conference the British Virgin Islands.

The draw identified:

Group A: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Honduras

Group B: Bahamas, Costa Rica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad

Group C: Aruba, Barbados, Curaçao, Haiti, St. Lucia

Group D: Belize, Guyana, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama

Group E: Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, British Virgin Islands-U.S. Virgin Islands winner

Group F: El Salvador, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos Islands-Anguilla winner

Each country will play 4 matches that will be arranged for June 2024 and June2025 The leading 2 countries in each group advance, and the 12 groups will be drawn into 3 groups of 4. Each of those nations will play 6 videogames from September through November in 2025, and the 3 group winners certify.

The top 2 third-place group advance to global playoffs that consistof one country each from South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, The 4 lowest-ranked groups will be drawn into a set of single-elimination matches and the winners advance to single-elimination videogames versus the groups with byes. The winners of those 2 videogames reach the 2026 competition.

Prior to the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., FIFA held an eye-catching certifying draw including 141 countries at New York’s Madison Square Garden on a Sunday in December1991 FIFA has split up draws by confederation for the 2026 World Cup and held Thursday afternoon’s CONCACAF arranging at its workplace in Zurich.

Reporting by The Associated Press.