World Cup bracket, explained: How seeds, groups, format will work in expanded 48-team field for 2026 FIFA tournament

JUMP TO: 

• What is the FIFA World Cup?
• Teams participating in the 2026 FIFA World Cup
• 2026 FIFA World Cup format
• How the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw works
• When does the 2026 World Cup begin?
• When is the 2026 World Cup final?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup promises to be the biggest, and likely most anticipated football tournament ever.

Now expanded to its largest field ever, the 2026 World Cup will bring excitement, thrills, and competition all across North America.

Set to be joint-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the 2026 tournament will be just the second World Cup ever held across multiple countries.

But how does it work? AllSportsPeople details just how the World Cup is set up to play out, and how the proceedings will be handled from start to finish.

MORE: 2026 FIFA World Cup schedule; dates, times, stadiums and more

What is the FIFA World Cup?

The FIFA World Cup is considered the most premiere football tournament in the world.

Held every four years, the competition has been contested uninterrupted since 1930, with the exception of the eight-year gap during World War II.

Winning a World Cup title is considered the pinnacle achievement of any international football career, given the rarity and difficulty in achieving such an accomplishment.

How many teams are in the FIFA World Cup?

Starting with the 2026 tournament, the field at the final tournament will feature 48 teams from around the world competing for the World Cup title.

Previously, the World Cup saw 32 teams clash every four years, as it has been since expansion from 24 in 1998.

Teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup format in 2026

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has two phases: the group stage and the knockout stage.

All 48 teams enter the group stage, sorted into 12 groups of four at the pre-tournament draw. Each group plays a round-robin format, with every team facing the others once. Teams earn three points for a win and one for a draw.

Thirty-two of the 48 teams will reach the knockout stage. All teams that finish first or second in their group secure automatic qualification, accounting for 24 of the 32 knockout participants.

The remaining eight spots go to the best third-place finishers.

How third place qualifiers work

All 12 third-place finishers are sorted into a table just like the groups based on their points gained in group stage play and other metrics such as goal differential.

The top eight teams in this table will advance to the knockout round.

Knockout stage seeding

The entirety of the knockout stage bracket is predetermined. For example, the winner of Group F will face the runner-up from Group C, while the winner of Group J will face the runner-up from Group H.

All group winners are paired against either a runner-up from another group, or a third-place finisher from another group. All group winners and runners-up from the same group are placed on opposite sides of the bracket to avoid rematches until the finals.

The only unknowns at the start of the tournament are where each potential third-place finisher will end up. Until all qualifiers are known, it is impossible to predict where or when they could potentially play should this come to pass.

There are 495 mathematical combinations of third place qualifiers from various groups. All of these have been spelled out in advance, and every potential outcome can be found in Annex C (pg. 80) of the 2026 FIFA World Cup regulations. Whichever combination comes to pass will determine where each third-place finisher falls in the overall bracket.

How the FIFA World Cup draw works

The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will be conducted in four stages to set the matchups for the tournament.

Each team is written on a slip of paper, placed inside a plastic ball and put in a pot numbered 1–4 based on that team’s FIFA ranking. Draw participants then select one ball from each pot to fill out the four-team groups.

A computer then allocates each team to its appropriate group based on the geographical restrictions in place for the event. It finds the first available group that does not present a restriction for the nation in question.

At the conclusion of the World Cup draw, all teams will know not only their group-stage opponents but also where their potential path through the knockout bracket will fall should they finish first or second in their group and qualify for the next phase.

MORE: How does the FIFA World Cup draw work?

FIFA to seed top four teams in world rankings

There is a new, additional constraint involving the top-ranked teams in Pot 1 for the 2026 draft, which FIFA announced on Tuesday, November 25.

In order to achieve competitive balance in the knockout stage, FIFA will restrict teams ranked No. 1 (Spain) and No. 4 (England) into half the groups, and teams ranked No. 2 (Argentina) and No. 3 (France) into the other half of the groups.

The aim here is to spread out the best teams in the field such that if they win their group they would end up on opposite ends of the knockout bracket.

Obviously, things do not always fall into place as they would have been drawn up in an ideal world. If these teams do not win their group, the whole thing falls apart. But if they play out as expected, it will spread out the top-ranked sides in a way that prevents the top two nations (Spain and Argentina) from meeting until the final.

When does the 2026 World Cup start?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will begin on June 11, 2026.

This is consistent with tradition, as the World Cup is held every four years in the northern hemisphere's summer.

It returns the competition to its regular schedule, after the 2022 edition was held in December to accommodate the climate in host nation Qatar.

When is the 2026 World Cup final?

After 106  final of the 2026 World Cup will be held on July 19, 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.

This globally renowned match will conclude the month-long tournament and crown the football champion of the world.