FIFA held the 2026 World Cup draw Friday in Washington, D.C., where the show was “almost as long as a soccer match, with the actual draw for the expanded 48-nation tournament starting in the 87th minute” (AP, 12/5). Spanish TV presenters were “starting to get clearly nervous about the length of the draw,” as they were “supposed to go to another programme in about 20 minutes.” It seemed “very unlikely that all groups - or even all the first seeds - will be drawn by then.” In Atlanta, the audience was “in ‘stopping to watch a train wreck mode,’ a mix of disinterest and quiet wonder” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/5).
Reactions on social media came in for the World Cup draw, largely criticizing the event for its length:
- The Athletic’s Adam Crafton: “Almost an hour into the draw and so far we have learned that Canada, Mexico and the USA will be playing at a World Cup hosted in Canada, Mexico and the USA.”
- The Athletic’s Tom Bogert: “did legitimately one single person ask for or want all of this? why are we doing all of this. why.”
- CNN’s Dana O’Neil: “Watching the World Cup draw show. Hereby rescinding with apology all of the times I criticized the NCAA Tournament Selection Show for its excess.”
- London Independent’s Adam Clery: “I no longer fear death because I watched the fifa 2026 world cup draw.”
- London Times’s Kaya Burgess: “This FIFA World Cup draw event is... the worst thing I have ever seen. It is an abomination in every conceivable way. It’s not even dreadful in an ironic way. Is almost impressive. An achievement in itself, to produce something so utterly awful.”
- N.Y. Post’s Stefan Bondy: “This World Cup draw show is some awful television.”
- The Sporting Tribune’s Arash Markazi: “Even the FOX broadcast of the FIFA World Cup draw is cutting away from Kevin Hart and Hedi Klum as Thierry Henry and Alexi Lalas are asking them to get on with the draw. This is painful.”
