Canada ‘will be OK’ as group opponents revealed at World Cup draw: fans

Canadian soccer fans gathered at the St. Albert Soccer Association on Dec. 5, 2025, to watch the televised draw for the 2026 World Cup group stage.

National pride was on display in the Edmonton area as Canada learned its group stage matchups for next year’s soccer World Cup on Friday in an internationally televised draw held in Washington, D.C.

Canada is co-hosting the major world sports spectacle with the United States and Mexico.

Fans attended watch parties across the country, including at the St. Albert Soccer Association, where local fan David MacEachran said he was pleased with who Canada is matched up with in Group B: Qatar, Switzerland, and the winner of a European playoff featuring Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

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They will all face each other in the initial group stage. The Canadian men’s national team’s first game comes June 12 in Toronto, where they’ll face the winner of the European playoff.

“Canada’s group, actually, is quite good, except for that European playoff because we could get Italy. They’re one of the strongest teams in Europe ... Italy, Northern Ireland, they’re the two really top teams out of that playoff group, so getting one of those in the group would be hard, but (Canada) will be OK, I think,” MacEachran told CTV News Edmonton.

“With that group, I think their chances are actually quite good to get out of the group.”

The star-studded draw in the U.S. capital was attended by world leaders, soccer legends and celebrities.

Following the June 12 game, Canada will head to Vancouver to play its second game against Qatar on June 18 and remain there to play Switzerland on June 24.

If Canada finishes first in their group, they’ll stay in Vancouver for the round of 32 and round of 16. Finishing second would also see them advance.

And if Canada places among the top eight third-place teams, they can also make it to the round of 32.

“(Canadian soccer fans) been hoping for this for many, many years,” MacEachran said. “As a proud Canadian, I sit there and I go, ‘This is what we need in our country.’ I’m really looking forward to it.”