In just a couple of days the 2026 World Cup is set to begin. The tournament runs from June 11th to July 19th, 2026.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States are hosting the tournament, and the 48 teams that qualified.

This year’s edition is the largest World Cup in history. Previously, only 32 teams qualified for the tournament.

The increase in the number of teams will see an increase in the number of Groups – from eight to 12 Groups, as well as an additional round for the knockout stages.

Here’s how the Groups break down:

Group A
Mexico
South Africa
South Korea
Czech Republic

Group B
Canada
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Qatar
Switzerland

Group C
Brazil
Morocco
Haiti
Scotland

Group D
United States
Paraguay
Australia
Turkey

Group E
Germany
Curaçao
Ivory Coast
Ecuador

Group F
Netherlands
Japan
Sweden
Tunisia

Group G
Belgium
Egypt
Iran
New Zealand

Group H
Spain
Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia
Uruguay

Group I
France
Senegal
Iraq
Norway

Group J
Argentina
Algeria
Austria
Jordan

Group K
Portugal
DR Congo
Uzbekistan
Colombia

Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama

The top 32 teams after the Group round will advance to the knockout round. The top two seeded teams in each group will automatically advance to the knockout round. The third place teams from each group will be ranked 1-12 with the top 8 teams advancing.

This is the first time since the 2002 that more than one country is hosting the tournament, and the first time that three countries are hosting. This is Mexico’s first time hosting the tournament (1970 & 1986), the United States’ second time hosting (1994) and Canada’s first time hosting the tournament.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States all qualified as host countries. Argentina, the defending 2022 Champions qualified and will be defending their title. Four countries: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan are all making their first appearances in the tournament.

With so many groups, and the third place teams having to earn their place in the knockout stage, I will not even try to predict what teams will advance from the Group Stage. All I can say is that I hope that the teams all play hard and earn a chance to advance.