World Cup 2026: Here are the 12 groups, and how the group stage will work

Safid Deen, USA TODAY Tue, March 3, 2026 at 2:39 PM UTC

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 teams (an increase from 32) that will play 104 matches this summer in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The tournament begins on June 11 when Mexico hosts South Africa at the Estadio Azteca, and the final will be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19.

But how will the groups be divided, and how will teams advance?

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The tournament field will be separated into 12 groups of four nations each.

The top two seeds in each group will advance, as with previous World Cup tournaments. Next, the eight best third-place finishers among the groups will also advance to the knockout stage, which begins on June 28 with the round of 32.

Here’s which countries are in the World Cup groups before the final participants are determined through a playoff in March:

World Cup groupsGroup A -

Mexico

South Africa

South Korea

UEFA playoff D (Czechia/Ireland/Denmark/North Macedonia)

Group B -

Canada

UEFA playoff A (Wales/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Italy/Northern Ireland)

Qatar

Switzerland

Group C -

Brazil

Morocco

Haiti

Scotland

Group D -

United States

Paraguay

Australia

UEFA playoff C (Türkiye/Romania/Slovakia/Kosovo)

Group E -

Germany

Curaçao

Ivory Coast

Ecuador

Group F -

Netherlands

Japan

UEFA playoff B (Ukraine/Sweden/Poland/Albania)

Tunisia

Group G -

Belgium

Egypt

Iran

New Zealand

Group H -

Spain

Cape Verde

Saudi Arabia

Uruguay

Group I -

France

Senegal

FIFA playoff 2 (Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname)

Norway

1 / 02026 World Cup: 20 players who will get you out of your seatSPAIN: Lamine Yamal. Still just a teenager, few players are as exciting with the ball at their feet as the 18-year-old Barcelona winger. He already has 23 caps for Spain, bursting onto the scene as 16-year-old sensation.Group J -

Argentina

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Group K -

Portugal

FIFA playoff 1 (New Caledonia/Jamaica/Congo)

Uzbekistan

Colombia

Group L -

England

Croatia

Ghana

Panama

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World Cup 2026 group stage: The 12 groups in the tournament

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