T8SC
Member
Welcome to the Official NeoGAF FIFA World Cup 2026 OT
With the regular season over, it's now time to look forward to the FIFA World Cup. We already have a "Football OT" here for those who aren't aware, but I understand there will be a lot of people watching the World Cup who aren't regular football fans so, this is to separate the regular football talk (Summer transfers, next season etc) from the big event.
The tournament takes place from the 11th June to 19th July. It will be hosted by 16 cities across the United States, Canada & Mexico. This is the first tournament to include 48 teams, up from the previous 32.
Group stage: 11–27 June
Round of 32: 28 June–3 July
Round of 16: 4–7 July
Quarter-finals: 9–11 July
Semi-finals: 14–15 July
Third-place play-off: 18 July
World Cup Final: 19 July
The groups & teams within are below, along with the knockout progress towards the final.
The top 5 teams which are the most likely to win the tournament are Spain, France, Brazil, England & Portugal, as observed by their current odds at the bookmakers.
Popular players at the tournament include:
Kylian Mbappe - France
Harry Kane - England
Lionel Messi - Argentina
Lamine Yamal - Spain
Erling Haaland - Norway
Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal
Vinicius Junior - Brazil
Luka Modrić - Croatia
Breakthrough talents to watch out for:
Nico Paz (21) - Argentina
Arda Guler (21) - Turkey
Lamine Yamal (18) - Spain
Nico O'Reilly (21) - England
Yan Diomande (19) - Ivory Coast
Désiré Doué (18) - France
Ibrahim Maza (20) - Algeria
Estêvão (18) - Brazil
