World Cup 2026 Round of 32: Who's Through, the Ties to Watch, and the Favourites
The first 48-team World Cup has reached the knockouts. After the group stage, the brand-new Round of 32 kicks off on Sunday 28 June with South Africa vs Canada in Los Angeles, and runs to 3 July. Here’s who’s through, the ties to watch, the group-stage shocks — including Scotland’s exit — and the favourites as the bracket takes shape. (One honest caveat up top: this is an hours-fresh snapshot, and a handful of third-place spots and exact pairings were still being confirmed as the final group games settled.)
How does the Round of 32 work?
This is the first 48-team World Cup: 12 groups of four, with the top two from each group (24 teams) plus the eight best third-placed teams going through — 32 in total — into a knockout round that didn’t exist in the old 32-team format. We explained the third-place maths in our guide to the World Cup tiebreakers.
The Round of 32 runs 28 June–3 July, feeding the Round of 16 (4–7 July), quarter-finals (9–11 July), semi-finals (14–15 July) and the final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey.
Who won the groups?
The 12 group winners are Mexico, Switzerland, Brazil, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Argentina, Colombia and England. France and Mexico were the only teams to win all three of their group games — and Mexico did it on home soil.
The biggest group-stage shocks
- Scotland out. At their first World Cup since 1998, Scotland finished third in Group C and just missed the third-place cut-off — the full story is in our Scotland World Cup piece.
- Uruguay eliminated. The two-time champions went out in the group stage, losing 1-0 to Spain in their decider, with debutants Cape Verde going through at their expense — the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup knockout round.
- Türkiye crash out. The pre-tournament dark horses failed to escape their group.
- Ecuador stun Germany 2-1, yet Germany still topped Group E — and Ecuador advanced anyway as one of the best third-placed teams.
The Round of 32 ties to watch
The knockouts open with South Africa vs Canada (28 June, Los Angeles). Among the standout confirmed ties:
- Brazil vs Japan — 29 June, Houston
- Germany vs Paraguay — 29 June, Boston
- Netherlands vs Morocco — 29 June, Monterrey
- France vs Sweden — 30 June, New Jersey
- Mexico vs Ecuador — 30 June, Mexico City
- USA vs Bosnia & Herzegovina — 1 July, San Francisco Bay Area
- Argentina vs Cape Verde — 3 July, Miami
A few pairings tied to the final third-place rankings were still being locked in as the last group games finished, so it’s worth checking the official bracket for the very latest before kick-off.
Who are the favourites?
Opta’s supercomputer and the bookmakers point to Spain, Argentina (the defending champions), France and Brazil as the teams to beat, with hosts Mexico carrying real momentum after a perfect group stage. France looked the most complete side of the group phase. If you want the full pecking order, we ranked all 48 teams here.
In the Golden Boot race, Lionel Messi leads with 5 goals — and has become the all-time top scorer in men’s World Cup history — ahead of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Vinícius Júnior and Erling Haaland on four.
How to watch the Round of 32
- UK: BBC and ITV (free-to-air, all matches; stream on BBC iPlayer and ITVX).
- US: Fox and FS1 (English) with Telemundo and Peacock (Spanish).
The Round of 32 runs daily from 28 June to 3 July — then it’s straight into the last 16.