And it would be entirely Italy's fault: all they had to do was not faceplant at home on the last matchday of their Nations League group and they would've had the "NL group winner" lifeline in their back pockets. Plus... losing at home to the French? Their ancestors must have been rolling in their graves
as there were discussion, that FIFA might seed the pot 1 teams, I took my draw to elaborate the most suitable constellations. At the moment, based on the FIFA rankings, the 9 other pot 1 teams would be: Argentina, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium and Croatia. One factor might be the night games. I gave a best guessing, but I am sure, that FIFA will shuffle the matches of one day to please the TV broadcasters. The other factor is Group L where the top seed will play 2 matches at Toronto in the smallest stadium. I cannot believe that FIFA let the luck decide, that Argentina, England or Brazil will play there. So I went for Belgium (could also be Netherlands or Croatia). The latest kick off times will propably be in Groups F, G, J and K, so I expect Argentina and Brazil to feature one of these 4. Here is my complete set of guessing, in case FIFA goes with a fixed assignment of the top seeds to the 12 groups: (Time zones is local times and in brackets UTC+2 = CEST) THE HOSTS The hosts are pre-assigned to Groups A (Mexico), B (Canada) and D (USA). Schedule for Mexico [cc] drawn at position (A1): Match 1: 2026-06-11 - 13:00 (21:00) – Mexico [cc] vs A2 - Mexico City Match 28: 2026-06-18 - 19:00 (03:00) – Mexico [cc] vs A3 - Guadalajara Match 53: 2026-06-24 - 17:00 (01:00) – A4 vs Mexico [cc] - Mexico City Schedule for Canada [cc] drawn at position (B1): Match 3: 2026-06-12 - 15:00 (21:00) – Canada [cc] vs B2 - Toronto Match 27: 2026-06-18 - 15:00 (00:00) – Canada [cc] vs B3 - Vancouver Match 51: 2026-06-24 - 13:00 (22:00) – B4 vs Canada [cc] - Vancouver Schedule for USA [cc] drawn at position (D1): Match 4: 2026-06-12 - 15:00 (00:00) – USA [cc] vs D2 - Los Angeles Match 32: 2026-06-19 - 18:00 (03:00) – USA [cc] vs D3 - Seattle Match 59: 2026-06-25 - 16:00 (01:00) – D4 vs USA [cc] - Los Angeles THE OTHER TOP SEEDS The remaining top seeds are pre-assigned to Groups C (England), E (France), F (Croatia), G (Argentina), H (Netherlands), I (Spain), J (Portugal), K (Brazil) and L (Belgium). Schedule for England [eu] drawn at position (C1): Match 5: 2026-06-13 - 12:00 (18:00) – England [eu] vs C2 - Boston Match 30: 2026-06-19 - 15:00 (21:00) – England [eu] vs C3 - Boston Match 49: 2026-06-24 - 13:00 (19:00) – C4 vs England [eu] - Miami Schedule for France [eu] drawn at position (E1): Match 9: 2026-06-14 - 12:00 (18:00) – France [eu] vs E2 - Philadelphia Match 34: 2026-06-20 - 14:00 (21:00) – France [eu] vs E3 - Kansas City Match 55: 2026-06-25 - 13:00 (19:00) – E4 vs France [eu] - Philadelphia Schedule for Croatia [eu] drawn at position (F1): Match 11: 2026-06-14 - 17:00 (00:00) – Croatia [eu] vs F2 - Dallas Match 36: 2026-06-20 - 19:00 (03:00) – Croatia [eu] vs F3 - Monterrey Match 57: 2026-06-25 - 15:00 (22:00) – F4 vs Croatia [eu] - Dallas Schedule for Argentina [sa] drawn at position (G1): Match 15: 2026-06-15 - 15:00 (00:00) – Argentina [sa] vs G2 - Los Angeles Match 40: 2026-06-21 - 18:00 (03:00) – Argentina [sa] vs G3 - Vancouver Match 65: 2026-06-26 - 18:00 (01:00) – G4 vs Argentina [sa] - Houston Schedule for Netherlands [eu] drawn at position (H1): Match 13: 2026-06-15 - 12:00 (18:00) – Netherlands [eu] vs H2 - Miami Match 38: 2026-06-21 - 15:00 (21:00) – Netherlands [eu] vs H3 - Atlanta Match 63: 2026-06-26 - 13:00 (22:00) – H4 vs Netherlands [eu] - Seattle Schedule for Spain [eu] drawn at position (I1): Match 17: 2026-06-16 - 12:00 (18:00) – Spain [eu] vs I2 - New York / New Jersey Match 42: 2026-06-22 - 15:00 (21:00) – Spain [eu] vs I3 - Philadelphia Match 61: 2026-06-26 - 13:00 (19:00) – I4 vs Spain [eu] - Boston Schedule for Portugal [eu] drawn at position (J1): Match 19: 2026-06-16 - 17:00 (00:00) – Portugal [eu] vs J2 - Kansas City Match 44: 2026-06-22 - 18:00 (03:00) – Portugal [eu] vs J3 - San Francisco Bay Area Match 69: 2026-06-27 - 15:00 (22:00) – J4 vs Portugal [eu] - Kansas City Schedule for Brazil [sa] drawn at position (K1): Match 23: 2026-06-17 - 17:00 (00:00) – Brazil [sa] vs K2 - Houston Match 48: 2026-06-23 - 19:00 (03:00) – Brazil [sa] vs K3 - Guadalajara Match 71: 2026-06-27 - 19:00 (01:00) – K4 vs Brazil [sa] - Miami Schedule for Belgium [eu] drawn at position (L1): Match 21: 2026-06-17 - 12:00 (18:00) – Belgium [eu] vs L2 - Toronto Match 46: 2026-06-23 - 15:00 (21:00) – Belgium [eu] vs L3 - Toronto Match 67: 2026-06-27 - 13:00 (19:00) – L4 vs Belgium [eu] - New York / New Jersey
Why would the top seed play 2 matches in Toronto? That doesn't make much sense. I would be the top seed gets Dallas-Boston-New York route.
the next rankings that will be published in July will have Croatia at 9 due to June results. so you are right, it is not the current rankings but the to-be rankings.
Correct according to a real-time rankings calculator https://football-ranking.com/fifa-world-rankings
That live ranking shows Germany losing points in the recent window, where it shouldn't have. 1935193429182394682 is not a valid tweet id
As far as I understand, Germany's two defeats in the Final Four did not result in any points being lost. One should only believe the official FIFA media https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/f99da4f73212220/original/edbm045h0udbwkqew35a-pdf.pdf
croatia and germany are very likely to win all their games in the qualifying, or at least all but one. italy is in serious problems, anything is possible there. they just appointed gattuso as their national coach in a total desperation move, looks like noone else was brave/stupid enough. all in all, it is definitely too early to predict the outcome with high probability, there are more than enough games to be played. that is wrong, german guy and larry are right, germany didn‘t lose the points in the nations league final four
I would not bet on Germany winning all matches or 5 out of 6. Slovakia and Northern Ireland are not their style to play. defensively well organized and typical british. Not what Germany likes. But back to the FIFA Formula: Competitive matches in championship tournaments are now distinguished between group stage matches and late-stage knock-out matches in order to reward the most successful teams in the most difficult competitions. Furthermore, to mitigate the negative consequences of losing matches in championship tournaments, losses in the knock-out rounds of final competitions will not result in point deductions for the losing team. But it counted for the QF stage? How ridiculous is that? And if a team losses a finals tournament match on penalties this is not weighted as a loss, but a draw, so these cases are not affected and teams losing on PSO will get point deduction in the rankings? I bet that is not the case, but their rule statement is very confusing.
Sadly, decision making at the AFC isn't even remotely impartial these days. See also the AFC Champions League "final eight" tournament hosted in Saudi Arabia for two consecutive years.
BBC’s former Head of Values Ian Fletcher appointed to new role as Director of Integrity for upcoming global football tournament. This should be fun. The BBC are reviving their 2012 mockumentary for the 2026 World Cup. They went on to make a self-mockumentary about the same incompetent team becoming the "Values" department at the BBC. Now they're moving to Americah.
2026 WC tie breakers The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined by applying the following criteria in order: Greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned; Superior goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned; Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned; If two or more teams remain equal, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the remaining tied teams; If still equal, apply the following criteria to all group matches for the teams still tied: Superior goal difference in all group matches; Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches; Highest team conduct score relating to yellow and red cards received by players and team officials (only one deduction applies per player or official per match): Yellow card: −1 point Indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points Direct red card: −4 points Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points If teams are still equal, ranking is determined by the most recent published FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking; If still tied, previous editions of the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking are used chronologically backward until a decision is reached.
FIFA regulations page 26. https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/636f5c9c6f29771f/original/FWC2026_regulations_EN.pdf
Fifa considers options for Iran at 2026 World Cup due to conflict with co-hosts US: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ilitary-action-canada-mexico-gianni-infantino Iran in Mexico always made the most sense.
This type of article drive me insane. “FIFA” isn’t considering doing anything (at least not publicly). There isn’t a single FIFA comment or action mentioned in the article! Just raw speculation from the author, leveraging current events to make a political point and drive clicks to a hysterical headline. Since (as of now) any travel ban or “war” wouldn’t directly impact the Iranian team, officials, staff, or immediate families’ ability to enter the US, it wouldn’t make sense for FIFA to take any drastic action. Except perhaps in a case where Iran threatens to withdraw from the tournament if they’re assigned to play in the US, which would be for political (not logistical) reasons. Since there’s exactly one team other than Mexico who plays their full group stage in Mexico (Mexico’s second opponent), the only option would be to manually place Iran in that position pre-draw. Or to substantially rearrange the distribution of matches between groups to allow more “Mexico-only” paths, which is a significant undertaking for the cities affected and grows more difficult with each passing day.
"FIFA considering hosting Iran's 2026 World Cup games in Saudi Arabia". I made that up but you never know.