2026 FIFA World Cup Finals

[Famine]

Another sportwashing World Cup is upon us, with the panem et circenses intended to distract from a host nation's issues for the Epsteinth time even as it tries to cheat by rescinding/refusing/reviewing visas for travelling players and staff from other nations. Sure worth making up a fake peace prize medal for that.

The first World Cup to be hosted by three nations - Canada, Mexico, and the USA - is also the first to feature 48 qualified teams, and therefore has 12 groups and an insane third-place ranking system to select eight more nations to qualify for the knockout stages. It'll get underway with host nation Mexico, playing South Africa in Mexico City, on June 11th, and end after 104 games in under three weeks on June 29th in New Jersey.

After 4,400sqkm Qatar broke Iceland's record by participating (as hosts) in the 2022 tournament to become the smallest nation by area to ever play in a World Cup, Qatar would have broken Iceland's record by qualifying for 2026 to become the smallest nation by area to ever qualify for a World Cup... if 4,000sqkm Cape Verde hadn't done it a day earlier. Cape Verde's record was then broken just over a month later when Curacao, at 444sqkm, came through CONCACAF qualifying. Curacao also takes Iceland's record for the smallest population country to ever qualify, with about half Iceland's population at 150k. These records are... likely to last a while.

Unsurprisingly, given that more than a fifth of the FIFA members qualified this time, 2026 also sees three of the five lowest ranked teams to ever qualify for a World Cup finals. Curacao is among them, at 82nd, but better-placed than Haiti (83rd, tied with South Africa in 2010) and the worst of the trio, 85th-placed New Zealand. The worst ever was North Korea in 2010 at 105th.

Jordan and Uzbekistan join Cape Verde and Curacao as World Cup debutants, while the only previous world champion team to not qualify is Italy - which misses its third successive World Cup and, after being knocked out in the group stages in both 2014 and 2010, has now not played a knockout game at a World Cup finals since winning it in 2006. Italy is the only nation in the top 20 FIFA (men's) rankings aside from 20th place Denmark to fail to qualify. Only one of the countries that qualified for 2022's knockout stages - Poland - failed to qualify this time round.

Well... «sigh», let's get it underway, eh?


GROUP STAGE
Top two teams in each group qualify for the knockout stage; best eight third-place teams also qualify.

GROUP A

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Czechia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Mexico	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	South Africa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP B

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Canada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Switzerland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP C

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Brazil	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Haiti	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Morocco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP D

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Australia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Paraguay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP E

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Cote d'Ivoire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Curacao	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Ecuador	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Germany	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP F

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Netherlands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Tunisia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP G

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Belgium	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Egypt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Iran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	New Zealand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP H

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Cape Verde	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Uruguay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP I

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Norway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Senegal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP J

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Algeria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Argentina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	@Jordan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP K

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Colombia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	DR Congo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Portugal	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

GROUP L

Pos	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	England	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Ghana	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Panama	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

THIRD-PLACE RANKING
Best eight teams qualify for Knockout Stage

Pos	Group	Country	P	W	D	L	G+	G-	GD	Pt
1	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	TBD	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

KNOCKOUT STAGE
TBD

TOP SCORERS
TBD

 

[Joey D]

I got France winning it, I think Spain also has a chance with an outside possibility of Brazil. I have my doubts about the US squad doing anything remotely meaningful since they only look so-so. They're not bad, and I suspect they'll be 1st or 2nd in their group, but I don't see them going deep into the tournament.

I can also pretty much assure you that it's not coming home, and England will disappoint fans everywhere because, of course, they will.

 

[Jezza819]

I'm hoping Spain will win it. I also hope that the extreme temperatures, severe thunderstorms popping up, and the bad quality of some of these pitches here in the US won't be a determining factor but I'm afraid it will.

 

[Liquid]

Germany and ABE for me, just like all World Cups that Wales don't qualify for.

That said, after back-to-back Russia and Qatar WCs, I didn't think I'd hate one three times in a row. No offence to Canada and Mexico but the US deserves empty stadiums and constant booing.

 

[eran0004]

I thought Sweden qualifying for the world cup was a bad April fools joke, as they didn't win a single game in the qualifying tournament and finished last in group B.

 

[Blitz24]

I got all of this being a nightmare. I can't wait to see how logistics are ruined and cities (I'm looking at you New York) are turned into a gridlock hellscape.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

I think Spain are clear and obvious favorites, but I also think that its hard to rule out the likes of France, England, Argentina or Portugal.

What about dark horses, I think Norway can go far and Turkey have some good young attacking players too.

I know there is a lot of controversy about USA being the co-hosts but once the Football starts I think it will be fine, the Football will do the talking.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Christian Eriksen conscious after collapsing during Denmark friendly

Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's friendly against Ukraine but is now conscious, says the Danish Football Association.

www.bbc.co.uk

May be the last time Eriksen plays.

 

[Touring Mars]

Scotland's opener against Haiti kicks off at 2am local time - a major disappointment after 28 YEARS of waiting since the last time Scotland qualified for a World Cup. It also happens to coincide with the Le Mans 24h, so I know where my priorities lie.

Scotland played Curacao in a friendly last week and won comfortably* (well, only after going 1-0 down and Curacao getting a player sent off...), and I don't think anyone is underestimating Haiti. Otherwise it's a very tough group with Brazil and Morocco, but with an extra qualifying spot up for the grabs in 8/12 groups, hopefully a decent win over Haiti will be enough to see Scotland progress to the KO stages for the first time - albeit an expanded KO stage.

-

My family and I will be supporting Scotland and England, and my best mate is Spanish, so I will be rooting for them too, just so that I have someone to support in the Final

And good luck @Jordan - whip some Argentine butt for us 😅

 

[DDK-Racing]

My prediction for the group winners:
Group A - Mexico
Group B - Canada/Switzerland
Group C - Brazil
Group D - Turkey
Group E - Germany
Group F - Japan
Group G - Belgium
Group H - Spain
Group I - France
Group J - Argentina
Group K - Portugal
Group L - England.

Country's elimenated after the group stage:
South-Africa, Qatar, Haiti, Australia, Curaçoa, Sweden, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Panama, DR Congo, Tunisia, Algeria & Czech Republic.

Predictions further are near impossible with 495 (!) possible combinations in the round of 32 depending on which numbers 3 advance...
However for now I will say I think Spain, France maybe Germany have the best odds. England is in a weird state, don't see Portugal, Belgium, Croatia advancing to the semi's. Argentina edit1 & Brazil end edit 1 also not sure how to rank them. Quarter/semi finals?

I'll adjust this post for:

Round of 32:

Round of 16:

Quarter finals:

Semi finals:

Third place match:

Final:

 

[Touring Mars]

The 2026 Finals have been hit with the first cheating scandal already...

 

[Famine]

The 2026 Finals have been hit with the first cheating scandal already...

View attachment 1543072

You can take it as a positive sign that Southampton didn't win a single game for which they admitted to spying on the training...

 

[Famine]

rescinding/refusing/reviewing visas for travelling players and staff from other nations

And referees:

World Cup 2026: Somali referee Omar Artan to miss tournament after being barred from entering US

Omar Artan, who was set to be the first Somali to referee at the World Cup finals, is dropped from the list of officials after he was denied entry to the United States.

www.bbc.co.uk