What do you want from Scotland's World Cup draw?

2026 Fifa World Cup draw

Date: Friday, 5 December Time: 17:00 GMT Venue: Kennedy Center, Washington DC

Coverage: Watch live on BBC & iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio 5 Live & Sounds, follow text updates, reaction and analysis on BBC Sport website & app

It really did happen, you know. Scotland are going to the 2026 World Cup.

Maybe it will all feel real when Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart begin co-hosting duties at Friday's draw? Hmm, probably not.

What about when the Village People take their turn to perform on stage? Or Robbie Williams? Or Andrea Bocelli? Or Nicole Scherzinger?

Guess we will have to wait for some famous former footballer to awkwardly crack open a small plastic ball to reveal 'Scotland' on an unfolded piece of paper for it all to sink in.

Giddy chat about who and where you want Steve Clarke's side to play have dominated the fortnight that has followed Kenny McLean ending that 4-2 win over Denmark with that goal.

So what is the more favourable route to a history-making knockout tie? What is the nightmare scenario? And what are the potential glamour occasions across the United States, Canada and Mexico?

Here, we attempt to make sense of the 48-team draw, which takes place in Washington DC from 17:00 GMT on Friday - live on the BBC.

In the biggest and longest World Cup yet, the finals will kick off on 11 June with 12 groups of four teams.

Sixteen cities will host games - 11 in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

For the draw, there are four pots with 12 nations in each. Scotland are in pot three.

Each group is made up of a team from each pot. Six spots remain in pot four and they will be claimed by the play-off winners.

Co-hosts Mexico (A1), Canada (B1) and the US (D1) are in pot one and have pre-determined groups so they can play all of their games in their own countries.

There are some confusing constraints regarding grids and top speeds being kept apart, which you can learn about here.

However, the main thing you probably need to know is no group can have more than one country from the same confederation.

The caveat is four groups will have two Uefa nations, as there are 16 European qualifiers to be drawn into 12 groups.

Yes, that means Scotland could draw England from pot one.

This is a bit footery given Italy, the world's 12th best-ranked nation, are involved in the play-offs and would qualify as a pot four team.

Since we are talking about a worst-case scenario, let's assume they make it to the 2026 finals and become Scotland's nightmare pot four opponent.

That would mean every other Uefa nation is out of the equation, including Euro 2024 winners Spain, who are currently top of Fifa's world rankings.

Next in line, then, is World Cup holders Argentina. Brazil are another option. No big deal. But what would being drawn with a South American team mean for pot two?

Morocco, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea or Australia would lie in wait, with the Moroccans - semi-finalists at the 2022 World Cup - ranked highest at 11th.

Potential 'group of death': Argentina, Morocco, Scotland, Italy* (Uefa play-off A winners).

Maybe you fancy a 'group of death'. After all, it has been nearly 30 years since Scotland were on this stage, so bring on the big boys.

However, we reckon there is a healthy chunk of you who would rather a more favourable draw to help Scotland progress to the knockouts of a major tournament for the first time.

Well, what would that look like?

No disrespect to one of our potential hosts, but Canada look the kindest pot one team on paper given their world ranking of 27. The US (14) and Mexico (15) are a bit higher.

Australia, just a place above the Canadians, are experienced at this level but rank lowest among the pot two possibilities.

Find the nearest piece of wood to touch, but Scotland (36) should fancy themselves against the six nations who have already qualified in pot four.

World Cup debutants Cape Verde (68), Curacao (82) and Jordan (66) are way down the rankings, but Haiti (84) and New Zealand (86) are even lower.

Potential lowest-ranked group: Canada, Australia, Scotland, New Zealand.

The final in New York. Well, the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to be exact.

Just imagine the Tartan Army taking over Central Park before heading for the subway like some weird gang from The Warriors.

OK, we are getting a tad ahead of ourselves. There are other opportunities to play in New Jersey before then, but it is a bit fiddly to work out before the draw.

What we do know, however, is if Scotland are first out of pot three, they go into Group A with Mexico.

That would also mean the Scots play the opening game of the tournament, just like they did in their last appearance in 1998.

Rather than facing Brazil in Paris, it would be Mexico at the Azteca. Dearie me, what an occasion that would be.

In truth, any co-host would offer the Scots a glamour game.

If it isn't Mexico it could be a 'Custody of Ryan Gauld' match with Canada in Vancouver on matchday two, or the US in their opener in Los Angeles.

While the date and order of games will be known when the draw is made on Friday, most venues and kick-off times will not be confirmed until Saturday.

The draw will be broadcast live on the BBC and BBC iPlayer from 17:00 GMT on Friday, 5 December.

Alternatively, you can listen live on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds. Live text coverage will also be on the BBC Sport website and app.

There will be a reaction show on the BBC Scotland channel from 19:10 GMT.

And keep yourself up to date online with our dedicated Scotland page.