World Cup 2026: Final Standings & Table

World Cup 2026 standings: points, wins, draws, losses and goal difference. Updated 29 August 2026. Team strength by chances created lives in the xG table; every game is in fixtures & results.

Group A

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Mexico	3	3	0	0	6:0	9
2	South Africa	3	1	1	1	2:3	4
3	South Korea	3	1	0	2	2:3	3
4	Czechia	3	0	1	2	2:6	1

Group B

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Switzerland	3	2	1	0	7:3	7
2	Canada	3	1	1	1	8:3	4
3	Bosnia & Herzegovina	3	1	1	1	5:6	4
4	Qatar	3	0	1	2	2:10	1

Group C

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Brazil	3	2	1	0	7:1	7
2	Morocco	3	2	1	0	6:3	7
3	Scotland	3	1	0	2	1:4	3
4	Haiti	3	0	0	3	2:8	0

Group D

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	USA	3	2	0	1	8:4	6
2	Australia	3	1	1	1	2:2	4
3	Paraguay	3	1	1	1	2:4	4
4	Türkiye	3	1	0	2	3:5	3

Group E

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Germany	3	2	0	1	10:4	6
2	Ivory Coast	3	2	0	1	4:2	6
3	Ecuador	3	1	1	1	2:2	4
4	Curaçao	3	0	1	2	1:9	1

Group F

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	10:4	7
2	Japan	3	1	2	0	7:3	5
3	Sweden	3	1	1	1	7:7	4
4	Tunisia	3	0	0	3	2:12	0

Group G

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Belgium	3	1	2	0	6:2	5
2	Egypt	3	1	2	0	5:3	5
3	Iran	3	0	3	0	3:3	3
4	New Zealand	3	0	1	2	4:10	1

Group H

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Spain	3	2	1	0	5:0	7
2	Cape Verde Islands	3	0	3	0	2:2	3
3	Uruguay	3	0	2	1	3:4	2
4	Saudi Arabia	3	0	2	1	1:5	2

Group I

#	Team	P	W	L	Goals	Pts
1	France	3	3	0	10:2	9
2	Norway	3	2	1	8:7	6
3	Senegal	3	1	2	8:6	3
4	Iraq	3	0	3	1:12	0

Group J

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Argentina	3	3	0	0	8:1	9
2	Austria	3	1	1	1	6:6	4
3	Algeria	3	1	1	1	5:7	4
4	Jordan	3	0	0	3	3:8	0

Group K

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Colombia	3	2	1	0	4:1	7
2	Portugal	3	1	2	0	6:1	5
3	Congo DR	3	1	1	1	4:3	4
4	Uzbekistan	3	0	0	3	2:11	0

Group L

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	England	3	2	1	0	6:2	7
2	Croatia	3	2	0	1	5:5	6
3	Ghana	3	1	1	1	2:2	4
4	Panama	3	0	0	3	0:4	0

Group Stage

#	Team	P	W	D	L	Goals	Pts
1	Congo DR	3	1	1	1	4:3	4
2	Sweden	3	1	1	1	7:7	4
3	Ghana	3	1	1	1	2:2	4
4	Ecuador	3	1	1	1	2:2	4
5	Bosnia & Herzegovina	3	1	1	1	5:6	4
6	Algeria	3	1	1	1	5:7	4
7	Paraguay	3	1	1	1	2:4	4
8	Senegal	3	1	0	2	8:6	3
9	Iran	3	0	3	0	3:3	3
10	South Korea	3	1	0	2	2:3	3
11	Scotland	3	1	0	2	1:4	3
12	Uruguay	3	0	2	1	3:4	2

The Largest World Cup in History

The 2026 FIFA World Cup expanded the tournament from 32 to 48 teams for the first time, jointly hosted across the United States, Mexico and Canada — the first World Cup held across three nations. The tournament opened on 11 June 2026 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the first stadium to host three separate World Cup openings, in 1970, 1986 and 2026, and concluded on 19 July 2026 with Spain's 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, giving Spain its second World Cup title following 2010.

Group Stage Format

Forty-eight teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, each playing a single round-robin against its group opponents — three matches per team, since the group phase has no return fixtures the way a domestic league season does. Three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a defeat, the standard points system, with 72 group-stage matches played in total across the twelve groups, compared with 48 group games under the previous 32-team format.

How Group Tables Were Read

Within each group, ranking followed points first, then goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head results among tied teams, before disciplinary points and, if still level, a drawing of lots — broadly the same hierarchy used in most domestic league tables, compressed into a three-match sample instead of a full season. The top two finishers in each of the twelve groups advanced automatically to the Round of 32, and were joined there by the eight best third-placed teams across all twelve groups, ranked by the same points-then-goal-difference criteria applied across the wider pool of third-place finishers.

The Knockout Stage

From the Round of 32 onward, the tournament switched entirely to single-elimination football: Round of 32, Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third-place playoff and the final, for 32 knockout matches on top of the 72 group games — 104 matches in total, up from 64 under the old 32-team format. Every knockout match that finished level after 90 minutes went to extra time and, if still tied, a penalty shoot-out, with no replays at any stage.

Format Context: Why 48 Teams

FIFA's decision to expand the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, announced years before the 2026 edition, was intended to widen international qualification access, particularly for confederations with fewer traditional qualification slots, at the cost of a longer, more condensed third-place-driven qualification math in the group stage. The expansion also meant more countries hosting World Cup matches for the first time and a longer overall tournament window, running from 11 June to 19 July, roughly a week longer than the 32-team format's typical calendar.

Historical Context

Spain's 2026 title, secured via Ferran Torres's goal in the 106th minute of the final, matched the country's 2010 triumph and extended a run of European dominance in the men's World Cup that has produced a European champion in five of the last six editions. Argentina, beaten finalists in 2026 after winning the tournament in 2022, reached back-to-back finals for the first time in the country's history. Mexico's run as co-hosts, opening the tournament at Estadio Azteca for a third time since 1970, tied the venue's record as the only stadium to host three separate World Cup opening matches.

Frequently Asked Questions About the 2026 World Cup

How many teams played in the 2026 World Cup?

Forty-eight teams competed, up from 32 in every prior edition since 1998, split into twelve groups of four for the group stage.

How did the group stage feed into the knockout rounds?

The top two teams from each of the twelve groups advanced automatically to the Round of 32, joined by the eight best third-placed teams across all groups, ranked by points, goal difference and goals scored.

Who won the 2026 World Cup?

Spain won the tournament, beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final at MetLife Stadium on 19 July 2026, claiming the country's second World Cup title after 2010.

The World Cup's Place Among Global Tournaments

No other single sporting event draws a comparable global broadcast audience or unites as many national federations in one qualification cycle, and the 48-team expansion for 2026 pushed both the qualification process and the tournament's overall match count to their largest scale in the competition's history, a scale increase FIFA has stated it intends to retain in future editions.

Why Bravsen Analyzes the World Cup Through xG

A single-elimination knockout format compresses an entire international career's worth of pressure into 90 or 120 minutes, where a scoreline can diverge sharply from the balance of play in a way a long league season would usually correct over subsequent fixtures. Bravsen Intelligence reviewed 2026 World Cup matches individually with full shot, possession and chance-quality data, plus a Crime Index reflecting how closely each result matched the run of play — a lens that is especially useful for knockout football, where a single moment of quality or a single defensive error can decide a match that underlying chance data suggests should have gone the other way.