All eyes are on the draw for next year's finals, which takes place in Washington DC's Kennedy Center on Friday (early Saturday AEDT) in the presence of US President Donald Trump.
The scheduling broadcast, set for midday on Saturday (4am Sunday, AEDT), will confirm venues and kick-off times for all 104 matches of the expanded 48-team tournament to be staged across the US, Canada and Mexico next June and July, the governing body said in a statement on Monday.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino will lead the presentation alongside former players, with representatives from the 42 teams already qualified – and those still in contention – expected to be in attendance.
The Socceroos learned last week that they have been placed in Pot 2, avoiding Asian rivals Japan, South Korea and Iran in the group phase as well as Croatia, Colombia, Switzerland, Senegal, Ecuador and Austria, who are ahead of them in the world rankings.
But there are plenty of potential pitfalls for Popovic's side, No.26 on the latest rankings, when the draw is made for soccer's showpiece tournament.
FIFA said the post-draw match allocation process aims to create optimal conditions for players and supporters and, where possible, allow viewing across multiple time zones.
This means that, once the groups are drawn, FIFA will place the group stage games in the best location possible, based on various time zones.
It seems likely that teams from Asia and Europe will play earlier in the day and be based on the East Coast, while teams from North, Central and South America will play in the later games and probably be based on the West Coast .
The final version of the schedule will be confirmed in March once the remaining six qualification spots have been filled through FIFA and European playoffs, the latter involving the likes of Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Turkey.
Kick-off times are slated to stretch over a nine-hour period, starting at midday on the US East Coast.
However, FIFA has not ruled out moving some kick-off times to earlier in the morning to try to avoid the extreme heat that affected players at this year's Club World Cup.
The 2026 World Cup – the first to feature 48 teams and 104 matches – will be hosted by 16 cities across three countries, with almost two million tickets already sold for the tournament.
