Julian Nagelsmann will only be presented with the exact venues and kick-off times for the national team’s three World Cup group games during a live FIFA show around 24 hours after the draw. As the world association announced, its president Gianni Infantino will announce the important details of the 72 games in the group phase together with football legends on Saturday (6 p.m./CET). The event in Washington will be shown live on FIFA’s social media channels.
Opponents are determined one day in advance
The actual draw show will take place in the US capital on Friday (6 p.m./CET), where the twelve preliminary round groups will be determined. At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the DFB team is one of twelve seeded teams in Pot 1 of the best World Cup starters. An early duel, for example with defending champions Argentina or European champions Spain, is therefore ruled out at the XXL tournament in summer 2026 in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
For the first time, the exact venues and kick-off times will not be confirmed until a day later. Two stadium options are previously set for each game in the draft schedule. The reason is that adjustments may be necessary for the international TV markets and the consideration of stadiums with a closable roof, in which games can be played in the midday hours even in very hot weather. Dallas and Atlanta, for example, offer this option.
German games at US lunchtime?
The DFB selection will ideally compete in America at lunchtime so that, with a time difference of six to nine hours, the games will not take place during the German night, but in the early evening. There are up to four World Cup games in total per day.