In the World Cup with 48 teams, not every preliminary round game reads like an early final, but real crackers could be waiting very early in the knockout round. An overview.
If you look at the course of the tournament and only bet on favorites to win, you can see that France, Spain, England and Argentina could all reach the semi-finals at the same time. Provided they win their groups. This is no coincidence, but is because the top 4 in the FIFA world rankings were also placed in the corresponding parts of the tournament tree. But that doesn’t mean that high-caliber players couldn’t most likely meet before.
Germany against France already in the round of 16?
Germany and France are the favorites in their groups. Even if the competition between the French and the strong Norwegians and Senegal is quite considerable. If both the DFB team and Michael Olise and Co. won their groups and prevailed against someone third in the group in the round of 16, it would then come to the round of 16 on the evening of July 4th to the firecracker.
The tournament tree of the 2026 World Cup
It’s been a long time since Germany’s last competitive win against the French, but it was even more historic: in the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals, Joachim Löw’s team won 1-0 with a header from Mats Hummels. After that, there was no more success for the DFB in two European Championship games and three Nations League games.
One last (and first) time Messi against Ronaldo?
It’s not a walk in the park for title contenders like Argentina and Portugal at a World Cup, even for title contenders like Argentina and Portugal, but everything goes as usual, both win their groups and remain successful afterwards, with a World Cup quarter-final between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on July 11th.
The then 39-year-old Messi and the 41-year-old Ronaldo would compete one last time at a major tournament in the deepest winter of their unprecedented careers. Almost unbelievable: the two multiple world footballers and their national teams have never met in a competitive game. Only two friendly matches with one win for each are in the history books.
July 11th could be a holiday for football fans
As if a potential duel between Messi and Ronaldo wasn’t big enough, July 11th could have another top-class match in store: England and Brazil would be a very likely quarter-final pairing on the same day. This also requires group wins for the two favorites, whose last duel at a World Cup was a while ago: in 2002, the Brazilians won 2-1 in the quarter-finals. All three goals were scored by Ballon d’Or winners: Michael Owen, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo.
Spain against Austria – top favorite against insider tip
After the convincing European Championship and with its many young superstars around Lamine Yamal and Pedri from FC Barcelona, Spain is the top favorite for the World Cup title among betting providers. If, as expected, the Iberians win their group with Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, then a nation that is considered a bit of a secret favorite awaits as group runner-up in Group J: Austria.
Austria’s coach Ralf Rangnick hugs David Alaba
The selection, coached by Ralf Rangnick and filled with former Bundesliga stars such as Konrad Laimer and David Alaba, has recently won eight games in a row. However, if this winning streak continues beyond the preliminary round and Austria finishes first in the group ahead of Argentina, Spain would even have to deal with Argentina.
Other possible top games
As group winners, Argentina could face Uruguay in the round of 16 if the “Urus” finish second in the group behind Spain. Norway could wait for Brazil in the round of 16, as they gave Italy no chance at all in the European Championship qualification and even surprisingly won against the Brazilians at the 1998 World Cup.