Hello and welcome to News Hour Live here on the BBC World Service.
We're coming to you from London.
I'm Krupa Bhatti and it's very good to have you with us.
The 2026 World Cup draw has taken place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Amid a snowy backdrop and lots of glitz and glamour,
the event was more than simply pulling names out of a hat.
It was hosted by the supermodel Heidi Klum and actors Kevin Hart and Danny Ramirez,
with live music from Andrea Bocelli as well as Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger.
The numbers say it all.
Are you ready for them?
104 games being played across 39 days, across four time zones and three countries,
at least 16 host cities, which are almost 3,000 miles apart.
Get your head around those figures.
Joining me now with more details is the BBC Sports Correspondent, John Murray.
John, welcome to News Hour.
What an event.
You were there.
Yes, it was it was all that you said there the the the glitz and the razzmatazz,
but also it was a marathon We knew it was going to last around about two hours and remember this is going to be the the biggest World Cup ever with 48 teams involved for the first time Well,
the biggest World Cup ever had a draw to match it and in the end it lasted for over two hours and The main body of the draw itself when we found out the makeup of the groups that lasted on its own 87 minutes so it's a little bit of a survival of the fittest but we've got through there and we know now what the groups will be.