The final teams have qualified for the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup, held in June and July in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
What is the “group of death” at the 2026 World Cup? These are the hardest draws
It’s a term whose origin is credited to Mexican journalists just over half a century ago: the World Cup “group of death”.
Used to refer to the biggest-name, toughest group in a round-robin stage, “el grupo de la muerte” is said to have been the phrase uttered by local reporters when England, Brazil, Czechoslovakia and Romania were drawn together in the first round of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
England were the holders; Brazil were two-time winners and went on to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy in Mexico; and the Czechs were two-time runners-up.
Spain ‘82’s famous “group of death”
Perhaps the most memorable “group of death” came just over a decade later, when Spain hosted the 1982 World Cup.
In a second-round group stage involving three-team sections, Brazil, Italy and 1978 winners Argentina were pitted against each other in a devastatingly heavyweight group. Only one could progress to the knockout phase.
It was the Italians who advanced - on their way to lifting a third world title - after a decisive win over the Brazilians in Barcelona. Inspired by a Paolo Rossi hat-trick, the Azzurri’s 3-2 victory is one of the World Cup’s greatest ever games:
What was the last World Cup “group of death”?
At the most recent World Cup, in Qatar in 2022, the consensus is that the “group of death” was Group E, in which two European heavyweights - four-time champions Germany and 2010 winners Spain - were joined by Japan and Costa Rica.
The Germans would certainly agree with that moniker: Die Mannschaft suffered a second-straight group-stage exit, with the Japanese and Spaniards advancing.
So what about World Cup 2026?
This summer’s toughest group appears to be Group I, which features France, Senegal, Norway, and Iraq.
The group pits Kylian Mbappé’s Frenchmen, the two-time world champions and the runners-up in 2022, against Erling Haaland’s Norwegians, who qualified for the 2026 World Cup with eight wins out of eight. That included a 4-1 thumping of Italy in Milan.
Senegal, meanwhile, are a top-20 ranked team that reached the knockout stages four years ago. Famously, moreover, the Teranga Lions have form for beating Les Bleus at the World Cup.
Overall, Group I’s teams boast the highest average world ranking of all the round-robin sections, at 25.75.
What do you think? Here are the 2026 World Cup groups:
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia
Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Qatar
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Türkiye
Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curaçao
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Sweden
Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cabo Verde, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia
Group I: France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, DR Congo
Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
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