It's almost time for the biggest tournament in the world. The 2026 Soccer World Championship is here. Get up to speed with all the players and nations and make your predictions now on OG.com.
Soccer
By Sam Bloomquist
North America will host the 23rd edition of the Soccer Championship this summer, and this year the tournament has expanded to a 48-team field. Only eight different countries have ever had the honor of winning the Soccer Championship, with Brazil being the most successful team in tournament history with five titles. Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, and Uruguay have also won multiple titles, followed by Spain and England, who have one championship apiece. You’ll find a lot of these names at the top of the odds board this year as well, but you never know what country will turn into a dark horse and flip the whole field on its head. Many countries have a compelling case to make a run this year, with a field relatively even at the top. The favorites this year come in with only a 19% chance to win it all per our prediction markets. So, who are the major players of this year’s Soccer Championship? And could someone create a Cinderella story?
The Soccer Championship 2026 Format
The tournament begins with a group stage, where the 48 countries in the field are split into 12 groups of four teams. The first match of the tournament will be in The top two teams in each group will automatically advance, and so will the top eight remaining third-place teams. Those 32 teams will advance to the Knockout round, which will be a single-elimination tournament until we have crowned a winner. 1 will host the games, with the final taking place in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on
Each match will feature two 45-minute halves to make up regulation time. If the teams are tied at the end of regulation during the knockout stage of the tournament, they’ll then play two 15-minute halves of extra time. If the score remains tied after that, the match will be settled by a best-of-five penalty kick shootout. Since instituting the rule in 1978, only 35 matches have been decided by a penalty kick shootout.
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