The draw at Washington's Kennedy Center opened with a glitz-rich show featuring Andrea Bocelli, the Village People and the presentation of FIFA's new peace prize to US President Donald Trump.

As he arrived at the event, Trump said "it's a big day and it is a great sport, and it really is coming to America and nobody ever thought a thing like this could happen."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were also in attendance.

Trump, Sheinbaum and Carney began the draw by selecting the balls of their own countries from bowls as expected – FIFA assigned the three co-hosts to their groups in February 2024.

The draw for the expanded 48-team competition will use a newly-introduced seeding system to ensure that the world's current top four teams – reigning champions Argentina, 2022 runners-up France, Spain and England – cannot meet until the semi-final stage if they win their groups.

The 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four to produce a mammoth 104 match schedule across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The three host nations are all in Pot One of top seeds.

At the other end of the scale, Pot Four includes debutants Cape Verde, Uzbekistan, Jordan and Curacao, which, with a population of 150,000, is by far the smallest nation ever to take part in a World Cup.

Teams by seeding

Six of the competing teams are still to be allocated places through playoff matches.

Once the groups have been decided, FIFA will get to work trying to optimise venues and kickoff times, which will be announced in another globally broadcast event on Saturday.