The top-seeded teams for the Dec. 5 World Cup tournament draw, including Germany but not Croatia, were set Wednesday when FIFA published new rankings the day after four continents completed qualifying.

Co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico will be joined in the pot of No. 1 seeds by top-ranked Spain, defending champions Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

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Croatia, semifinalists in 2022 and beaten finalists by France in 2018, were edged down into Pot 2 for the draw ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend.

The updated FIFA rankings also decided seeding for the draw Thursday for playoff brackets in March that will decide the final six entries in the expanded 48-nation lineup.

The 22 playoff teams include 16 in Europe playing for four World Cup places and six from the other regions chasing two spots in the intercontinental brackets.

Italy are the headliner in the European brackets as the four-time world champions aim to avoid a humiliating third straight exit in the playoffs.

The 12th-ranked Italians were pushed into the playoffs after finishing as runners-up in a qualifying group won by Norway. Erling Haaland‘s Norwegian team shapes up as a dangerous option from Pot 3 in two weeks’ time.

Italy will be drawn Thursday at home against a fourth-seeded team. That could again be North Macedonia, who shockingly eliminated the Italians in 2022.

The winner on March 26 advances to a playoff final five days later against the team that emerges from the No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed pairing in its knockout bracket. Home advantage in the single-game playoff finals will be decided by the draw Thursday and not FIFA ranking.

The teams that eventually emerge from the four separate European playoff brackets are expected to be placeholders from low-ranked Pot 4 in the Dec. 5 draw.

The intercontinental brackets will see top-seeded Iraq and Congo each await the winner of playoff semifinals that involve Bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.

European playoffs seedings

Pot 1: Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine.

Pot 2: Poland, Wales, Czechia, Slovakia.

Pot 3: Republic of Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo.

Pot 4: Northern Ireland, Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia.

Intercontinental playoffs

Seeded: Congo, Iraq.

Unseeded: Bolivia, Jamaica, New Caledonia, Suriname.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday the league will cooperate with a U.S. Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations. 

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said during a news conference at an owners meeting.

The sport has been rocked by a scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, who are accused of aiding gamblers by taking bribes to rig pitches.

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Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. 

The committee is asking for responses to six questions by that date:

1. “How and when was MLB made aware of suspicious betting and game manipulation activity by Emmanuel Clase or Luis Ortiz? Provide documents sufficient to support your response?”
2. “Provide documents sufficient to show MLB’s policies and procedures relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging by MLB or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners.”
3. “List any investigation into an MLB or affiliate team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners for violating MLB rules relating to sports betting, gambling, or game rigging or related criminal conduct between January 1, 2020, and the present.”
4. “Provide all documents related to any investigation listed in response to Request 3, including: Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation; Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
5. Procedures and policies used to conduct any relevant investigation;
6. Documents received by third parties or otherwise collected by MLB during any relevant investigation; and
7. Findings, conclusions, and actions taken as a result of any relevant investigation.”
8. “Provide communications between MLB and any sports betting platform or sports gambling integrity monitor regarding suspicious or flagged sports wagers: Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
9. Placed by MLB’s or an affiliated team’s players, coaches, employees, or owners; or
10. Placed on MLB games or propositions related to MLB games, players, or teams.”
11. “Explain the extent to which MLB has addressed and plans to further address the alleged instances of sports betting, gambling, and game rigging that have occurred including: How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure; How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”
12. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise its rules, policies, procedures, or enforcement structure;
13. How, if at all, MLB plans to revise or enforce its rules relating to cellphone use during games; and
14. How MLB plans to ensure players, employees, coaches, and owners do not have ties to organized crime.”

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

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Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5.  (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave July 3 and Clase was placed on leave July 28. 

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” he said. 

Both Ortiz and Clase have pleaded not guilty. 

Clase and Ortiz were arrested and appeared in federal court in New York last week. Clase, a three-time All-Star, pleaded not guilty to charges that he took bribes to help gamblers win money on his pitches. Ortiz also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Officials said in the indictment that, from May 2023 to June 2025, Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.

The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor to throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in specific games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets; June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins; and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.

Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said, Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.

Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitches thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.

When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said, he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.

The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000. In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.

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Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase’s leave was extended indefinitely Aug. 31, 2025. (IMAGN/AP)

The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving alleged illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the alleged scheme.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Chelsea winger Estêvão said he followed orders and allowed teammate Lucas Paquetá to take Brazil‘s second penalty in Tuesday’s 1-1 friendly draw with Tunisia.

Estêvão, 18, had converted a penalty in the 44th minute of the encounter in Lille, France, to level the score, 1-1.

When Brazil were awarded another spot-kick in the 77th minute, substitute Paquetá and not Estêvão was chosen by coach Carlo Ancelotti to take it. The West Ham star struck his attempt over the crossbar.

“It was an order that came,” Estêvão said.

“I really wanted to take the spot-kick but the order came in. I supported my teammate so he could score the goal. Unfortunately, he missed, but heads held high, we have to train, improve because in a World Cup we have to take advantage of these opportunities.”

Ancelotti explained his decision.

“For the second penalty, I changed penalty taker because I wanted to take some of the pressure off Estêvão, so I put Paquetá in, who usually takes them very well,” Ancelotti said after the game.

Paquetá apologised for the penalty miss.

“I apologise for the missed penalty,” he said. “I’m sad. We probably would have won with that penalty. I’m very used to scoring at my club, I have great successes. Unfortunately, my anxiety to score made me make a decision before that final touch, so I think that’s what took me away from taking the penalty as I usually do and I ended up not converting it.

“I’ll try to put myself in those circumstances to improve in that sense, to convert in the next opportunity and help the team.”

While Brazil ended the year without a win, Estêvão focused on the positives.

Estêvão joined Chelsea from Palmeiras for £29 million ($38.6m) in the summer and quickly adapted to life in the Premier League.

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He has scored five goals in 11 appearances for Brazil.

“It’s been a very special year,” he said. “I don’t think I had many ups and downs, but I was able to handle everything that happened. Being here with the national team means that the work has been done well at the club and at home, so I’m very happy to represent the national team.

“Obviously, we always come here to help, and I’m very happy about that.”