The format, criteria and qualifying rules for the knockout stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Find out who’s in and who’s out.
Published on June 21, 2026
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Updated: 3 hours ago
The knockout mount in FIFA World Cup 2026 is slowly taking shape.
It begins with the Round of 32, which runs from June 28th to July 3rd.
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What format and criteria apply for qualification and which teams advanced or were eliminated?
What is the format of the World Championship Knockout Rounds?
The top two teams in each of the 12 groups advance to the knockout rounds along with the eight best third-place teams.
The knockout phase begins with the round of 32, introduced for the first time at a World Cup following the tournament’s expansion from 32 to 48 teams.
Then comes the round of 16, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and a playoff for third place. The final will take place on July 19th.
The tournament schedule is divided into stages:
- Group stage: June 11th to June 27th
- Round of 32: June 28th to July 3rd
- Round of 16: 4th-7th July
- Quarterfinals: 9th-11th July
- Semifinals: 14th-15th July
- Bronze medal game: July 18th
- final: July 19th
What rule changes are there for the tie-break criteria at the 2026 World Cup?
For the first time at a World Cup, FIFA is using head-to-head comparisons instead of goal difference as the primary tiebreaker for teams tied on points.
Haiti and Türkiye were eliminated because they were unable to catch up after losing to the third-placed teams in their respective groups.
Tie-breaker criteria for World Cup groups
Accordingly The FIFA rules for the tournamentIf two or more teams from the same group are tied on points at the end of the group stage, the following criteria will be used to determine the rankings in the order shown below:
Step one
- Highest score in the group games.
- Superior goal difference in the group games between the teams involved (head-to-head).
- Highest number of goals scored in the group games between the participating teams (direct comparison).
If the teams are still tied, the following criteria apply:
Step two
- Superior goal difference in all group games.
- Highest number of goals scored in all group games.
- Highest team behavior score (players and team officials) in relation to the number of yellow and red cards received.
If the teams cannot be separated, the following criteria apply:
Step three
- The two or more teams with the same number of points will be ranked according to the most recently published edition of the ranking list FIFA world rankings.
The criteria for the eight best-placed teams
The eight best third-place teams will be determined as follows:
- Highest score in all group games.
- Goal difference from all group games.
- Highest number of goals scored in all group games.
- Highest team behavior score (players and team officials) based on the number of yellow and red cards received in all group games.
- The two or more teams tied on points will be ranked according to the most recently published edition of the FIFA World Rankings.
Which teams reached the World Cup round of 32?
(As of June 21, 03:00 GMT)
⚽️ Mexico (Group A)
The co-hosts were the First to qualify for the knockout roundsafter securing top spot in Group A with a 1-0 win over South Korea on Thursday, June 18. The Mexicans started their season with one 2-0 win over South Africa in a chaotic start to the tournament.
⚽️ USA (Group D)
The United States was the second team to do so punch your ticket for the knockout roundthanks to their 2-0 win over Australia in Group D on Friday 19 June. The USA defeated Paraguay 4-1 to start their campaign.
⚽️ Germany (Group E)
Germany became the third team to reach the round of 32 with one 2-1 win against Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 20th. The Germans, who failed to get past the group stage in Russia 2018 and in Qatar four years ago, started their tournament with success 7:1 defeat from Curacao.
Which teams have been eliminated from the 2026 World Cup?
⚽️ Haiti (Group C)
Haiti was the first team to be sent home from the World Cup after suffering a serious illness 0:3 defeat to Brazil on Friday, June 19th. They also lost in their first tournament since 1974 1-0 for Scotland in their first game.
⚽️ Türkiye (Group D)
Turkiye soon followed suit and was eliminated from the tournament after a year 0-1 defeat against 10-man Paraguay later on Friday. They also suffered one Shock: 0-2 defeat in the first group game against Australia – their first appearance at the tournament in 24 years.
