The 2026 World Cup Bracket: How the New 48-Team Format Works

World Cup 2026 is fast approaching as the biggest sporting event on the planet gets ready to take center stage once more. FIFA president Gianno Infantino has already described the upcoming tournament, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico, as the “biggest, best and most inclusive World Cup ever.”

As far as the best goes, it is too early to say. But Infantino is right about one thing: featuring 48 teams for the first time, World Cup 2026 will be the biggest edition in the competition’s 96-year history.

Make no mistake, this is a historic, supersized event. As well as a record number of participating teams, this World Cup will also contain the most matches (104) and the most host nations (three) we have ever seen. It is poised to be a World Cup like no other.

This article will analyze exactly what has changed this time around, as well as plotting a path from the opening game on June 11 to the final on July 19. So without further ado, here is what the new 48-team format means for World Cup 2026.

The Group Stage: 12 Groups of Four

From World Cup 1998 to World Cup 2022, 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four. Thirty-two is a helpful number for soccer tournaments. It allows the group winners and runners-up to advance to the knockout phase, from where 16 neatly divides into two finalists after a few rounds. 

In 2017, the FIFA Council unanimously voted to expand the World Cup to 48 sides. The history of the tournament is one of gradual expansion, from 16 teams to 24, 24 to 32, and now 32 to 48. Not everyone was happy with the enlargement, and there may have been cynical motives at play, but a 48-team World Cup allows better representation for every region on the planet. 

Initially the plan for 2026 was 16 groups of three with the top two going through. But this raised questions about competitive fairness, since it would be possible for the two teams playing the final fixture in each group to engineer a mutually beneficial result. After the drama of the final matchday at World Cup 2022, FIFA decided to change course and retain the four-team groups.

The 48 teams have therefore been split into 12 groups, from A to L. As always, the draw was seeded. The strongest sides in the FIFA Rankings, together with the three co-hosts, were in Pot 1, with the rest of the teams assigned to Pots 2, 3 or 4 based on the ranking system.

Each team will play three matches in the group stage, facing the other three teams in their section. The top two in each group (so 24 in total) will proceed automatically to the knockout phase, which begins with the round of 32. 

Twenty-four automatic qualifiers for a round of 32 means there are still eight places in the knockouts to be claimed. Those spots will be filled by eight third-place finishers, more on which below. 

The "Wild Card" Factor: Best 3rd-Place Teams

Finishing in the top two is the principal objective for every nation at World Cup 2026. Being group winners or runners-up guarantees you a place in the knockout phase regardless of what happens in the other groups. But failing to secure a top-two berth does not automatically end a team’s participation.

Much like the NFL and the MLB, the new format contains a wildcard system. Even if a team fails to finish first or second in their group, they can still progress to the knockout phase and keep their World Cup dream alive. 

As mentioned above, eight of the third-place finishers will join the 12 group winners and the 12 group runners-up in the round of 32 as wildcards. Given there are 12 groups, this means that a third-placed side has a 66.66 percent chance of making it through - pretty decent odds all things considered.

Once the group phase has been completed, the 12 third-place finishers will be ranked on the usual criteria: points, goal difference, goals scored, and goals against (in descending order of importance). The top eight will go through and the bottom four will be eliminated.

This has several implications. The first is that virtually every group game matters. Previously, if a team had no chance of securing a top-two finish ahead of their third match, they had nothing left to play for. In this system a third-place finish would often still be achievable, thereby giving the team an incentive to get a good result.

Not only does every point matter, but every goal does too. The difference between progressing as a third-place finisher and going out often comes down to goal difference. A goal scored or conceded in second-half stoppage time on matchday three could alter a team’s destiny in the most dramatic way imaginable.

The New Knockout Map: Welcome to the Round of 32

The round of 32 is a brand-new, high-stakes phase of the World Cup. This is an extra single-elimination step that did not exist in previous formats. It increases the jeopardy considerably: one slip-up here would result in instant elimination. As of 2026, the “win or go home” stakes begin earlier in the competition.

This makes winning the tournament even more challenging than before. The eventual champion will now have to survive eight matches before lifting the World Cup trophy. And because the underdogs tend to win more often in soccer than in higher-scoring sports, who is to say that a tournament favorite like Spain, Brazil, Argentina or England will not fall at the round of 32 hurdle?

The draw for the round of 32 is fixed, with one important caveat. The winner of Group H is already guaranteed to play the Runner-up of Group J, while the Group C winner will take on the runner-up of Group F come what may.

However, since we do not yet know which third-place finishers will advance, some group winners or runners-up will only find out their round of 32 opponents at the last minute. For instance, the winner of Group D will face a third-place finisher from Group B, E, F, I or J, depending on the exact combination of teams which make it through. 

Scheduling a 39-Day Soccer Marathon

Organising a 48-team, 104-match, three-host tournament is no mean feat. Those responsible for producing the FIFA World Cup 2026 schedule are the unsung heroes of the entire event. 

The logistics at play - from assigning teams to matches, matches to host cities and everything in between - no doubt threw up one or two problems along the way, but the organizers have succeeded in overcoming the obstacles.

The Stadiums that Will Host the World Cup were announced in 2022. There are three host cities in Mexico, two in Canada and 11 in the USA. These 16 venues were then split into three regions: Western, Central, and Eastern.

Each group has been assigned to one of those three regional pods. This keeps teams and fans within specific time zones and helps to minimize travel burnout. This is a smart decision: it would have made little sense to play your first group game in Vancouver, your second in New York City, and your third in Guadalajara.

Everything changes in the knockout phase, though. For example, Group C takes place in the Eastern region, but its winners and runners-up will play in the Central region in the round of 32. From the semi-finals onwards, the tournament will be staged only in the Central and Eastern regions.

The Road to the Final in New York, New Jersey

World Cup 2026 begins with the opening game at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11 and ends with the final at the New York-New Jersey Stadium on July 19. 

In between those two matches, there will be another 102 fixtures played, with the majority taking place in the US host cities. That means 104 games in total - a significant increase on the 64 we saw at World Cup 2022.

All the key dates for every part of this brand-new 48-team bracket can be found in the table below.