Matches

Mexico

vs

South Africa

Host nation vs the 2010 opening-day shadow: Mexico vs South Africa kicks off the 48-team era

South Korea

vs

Czechia

Altitude in Guadalajara, Son vs Schick, and a 1-1 head-to-head record that means nothing yet

Canada

vs

Bosnia

Toronto kicks off Canada's home Cup — without Davies, against Italy's slayers

USA

vs

Paraguay

The host opens at home: Pochettino's pressing system meets Alfaro's wall

Qatar

vs

Switzerland

Bay Area opens with a tactical mismatch — Qatar try the deep block against Yakin's organised press

Brazil

vs

Morocco

Ancelotti's debut, a rematch from Tangier — and the most consequential opener of Group C

Haiti

vs

Scotland

The most winnable match of the group for both sides — and the heaviest weight

Australia

vs

Türkiye

First competitive meeting ever — Vancouver hosts the most pivotal Group D fixture for both teams

Germany

vs

Curaçao

A four-time world champion meets the smallest nation ever to play at a World Cup

Netherlands

vs

Japan

Group F opens in Dallas — Koeman's high line meets Moriyasu's vertical counter

Ivory Coast

vs

Ecuador

The match that decides second place in Group E before anyone has played the second matchday

Sweden

vs

Tunisia

Monterrey opener — Isak and Gyökeres meet Skhiri and the must-win Tunisia opener

Spain

vs

Cape Verde

European champions open against history's smallest debutant

Belgium

vs

Egypt

De Bruyne vs Salah — generation-defining captains in Seattle

Saudi Arabia

vs

Uruguay

Eight years on from Rostov, the rematch — but with Bielsa, Núñez, and Donis instead of Tabárez, Suárez, and Pizzi

Iran

vs

New Zealand

Two defensive structures collide in Los Angeles

France

vs

Senegal

The 2002 ghost match — 24 years later, in New Jersey

Iraq

vs

Norway

Iraq's first World Cup match in 40 years — meeting Haaland's debut

Argentina

vs

Algeria

Messi's record sixth World Cup begins where Mahrez's last begins — Kansas City opener

Austria

vs

Jordan

Rangnick's first World Cup opener meets Jordan's first World Cup match ever

Portugal

vs

DR Congo

Ronaldo's sixth-tournament opener vs. the Leopards' 52-year return — Group K's first dance

England

vs

Croatia

Moscow ghosts return — England open against the team that broke their hearts in 2018

Ghana

vs

Panama

The Group L decider before Group L even starts — both sides know whoever loses is realistically out

Uzbekistan

vs

Colombia

Central Asia's first World Cup match meets James and Luis Díaz at the Azteca — the Cafeteros' opening test

Czechia

vs

South Africa

Atlanta heat meets Czech height: the most consequential 'middle-round' game in Group A

Switzerland

vs

Bosnia

Balkans-in-LA — first ever World Cup meeting between two nations with deep diaspora roots

Canada

vs

Qatar

Vancouver decides Canada's tournament — and Qatar's only realistic win opportunity in Group B

Mexico

vs

South Korea

Russia 2018 redux: Mexico-Korea returns, and this time Son is the only player still standing from that night

USA

vs

Australia

ESPN's 'most-hyped Socceroos match in history' — Seattle becomes the Popovic-Pochettino chess match

Scotland

vs

Morocco

28 years on from Saint-Étienne — a rematch of the most painful day in modern Scottish football

Brazil

vs

Haiti

Brazil clinch round of 16, Haiti chase a single moment to remember

Türkiye

vs

Paraguay

Two World Cup returnees meet for the first time ever — Bay Area opens a decisive match for both

Netherlands

vs

Sweden

Houston six-pointer for group leadership — Van Dijk and Van de Ven against Isak and Gyökeres

Germany

vs

Ivory Coast

A Toronto fixture that could decide whether Ivory Coast play knockout football

Ecuador

vs

Curaçao

The most-likely-clean-sheet match in the entire tournament

Tunisia

vs

Japan

Monterrey rematch — Tunisia and Japan trade roles four years after the Qatar dead-rubber

Spain

vs

Saudi Arabia

Twenty years after 2006, Spain returns to face Saudi Arabia — this time as the reigning European champion

Belgium

vs

Iran

Belgium's attack meets Iran's defensive jinx-breaking project

Uruguay

vs

Cape Verde

Two-time world champion vs World Cup debutant — Bielsa's press meets Bubista's block

New Zealand

vs

Egypt

Egypt's qualifier for the knockout rounds, New Zealand's chance to make a moment

Argentina

vs

Austria

The group decider in Dallas — Scaloni's possession against Rangnick's press

France

vs

Iraq

France's rotation match, Iraq's free hit — but Mbappé still wears the No. 10

Norway

vs

Senegal

The Group I swing match — Haaland vs Mané, qualification on the line

Jordan

vs

Algeria

The Arab derby Jordan must survive and Algeria must win

Portugal

vs

Uzbekistan

Ronaldo and Vitinha against Khusanov's debut — Portugal's group-stage clincher in Houston

England

vs

Ghana

First competitive meeting — England's structural quality against Ghana's Premier League-level talent

Panama

vs

Croatia

First-ever meeting — Croatia's veteran midfield against Panama's drilled defensive shape

Colombia

vs

DR Congo

Luis Díaz vs. Wissa, James vs. Mbemba — Colombia's most dangerous group test in Guadalajara

Switzerland

vs

Canada

Vancouver finale — Group B's two favourites for top spot meet with everything on the line

Bosnia

vs

Qatar

Seattle decides Bosnia's tournament — Qatar's last-chance win opportunity for World Cup history

Scotland

vs

Brazil

1974, 1982, 1990, 1998 — and now 2026: Scotland's fifth World Cup meeting with Brazil

Morocco

vs

Haiti

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta — Morocco's likely round-of-16 clincher, Haiti's last World Cup match for an unknown number of years

Czechia

vs

Mexico

Group decider at the Azteca: probably top spot, possibly knockout life-or-death

South Africa

vs

South Korea

The 'fight for third' or possibly more — Bafana's first knockout in 24 years vs Son's last World Cup

Curaçao

vs

Ivory Coast

Curaçao's best chance at history meets Ivory Coast's most important must-win

Ecuador

vs

Germany

Quite possibly Group E's actual final — and the most stylistically intriguing matchup of the entire group

Japan

vs

Sweden

Dallas closer — likely six-pointer for second place in Group F

Tunisia

vs

Netherlands

Kansas City closer — possibly the squad-rotation game, possibly Tunisia's last knockout chance

Türkiye

vs

USA

Group D's decider at LA Stadium: Pochettino's press versus Montella's young attackers

Paraguay

vs

Australia

The Bay Area third-place playoff: defensive twin teams compete for the 48-team escape hatch

Norway

vs

France

Group I winner-takes-the-bracket — Haaland and Mbappé on the same pitch

Senegal

vs

Iraq

Senegal's must-win, Iraq's chance to shock — Toronto's late-group decider

Cape Verde

vs

Saudi Arabia

The Group H 'real' final — debutant vs new-coach Saudi Arabia, with a knockout spot likely on the line

Uruguay

vs

Spain

Bielsa vs de la Fuente — the most tactically anticipated group-stage match of the entire tournament

Egypt

vs

Iran

The Group G decider — Pharaohs vs Team Melli in Seattle

New Zealand

vs

Belgium

Wood vs De Bruyne in Vancouver — the simultaneous group finale

Panama

vs

England

Volgograd rematch — eight years after the 6-1, a smarter Panama meets a Tuchel-coached England

Croatia

vs

Ghana

Last matchday, knockout stakes — Croatia's possession against Ghana's pace, with second place possibly on the line

Colombia

vs

Portugal

James vs. Ronaldo, Luis Díaz vs. Vitinha — Group K's marquee match on Day 3 in Miami

DR Congo

vs

Uzbekistan

Group K's must-win decider — the Leopards' 52-year return vs. Uzbekistan's debut, both chasing the Round of 32

Algeria

vs

Austria

The group decider — Mahrez's farewell against Rangnick's pressing project

Jordan

vs

Argentina

Jordan's first-ever World Cup ends where Messi's last begins to wind down

2A

vs

2B

Broos's last stand against Marsch's pressing machine — discipline meets intensity under the SoFi lights

1C

vs

2F

Ancelotti's slow-burning giants meet Japan's three-man riddle — and a Vinícius Júnior in the form of his life

1E

vs

3A/B/C/D/F

The arsenal and the bunker: Nagelsmann's firepower meets Alfaro's discipline under the Foxborough lights

1F

vs

2C

Koeman's front-three juggernaut meets Ouahbi's high-wire act — and the question is whether Morocco's reborn attack can survive its own defending

2E

vs

2I

Steel against the storm: Fae's mid-block braces for Haaland in the Dallas heat

1I

vs

3C/D/F/G/H

Dembélé and Mbappé bring a 10-goal storm to MetLife — and Potter's bruised Sweden must find the counter that beat Tunisia, not the one the Dutch ran through

1A

vs

3C/E/F/H/I

A flawless front and a battle-hardened underdog: Aguirre's unbeaten El Tri meet the Ecuador side that buried Germany

1L

vs

3E/H/I/J/K

Tuchel's solved-but-stiff England meet the Léopards who answer every punch — and the low block that already bruised them

1G

vs

3A/E/H/I/J

A golden generation rouses just in time, against a wounded Teranga lion still searching for its old roar

1D

vs

3B/E/F/I/J

Pochettino's reborn USMNT meet the European wall they've never climbed — but it's the brittlest one yet

1H

vs

2J

La Roja's low floor meets Rangnick's high wire under the SoFi roof

2K

vs

2L

Ten years after Lens, two runners-up meet in Toronto with their old kings still on the pitch

1B

vs

3E/F/G/I/J

Petkovic returns to face the team he built — and a Swiss bench that keeps deciding games

2D

vs

2G

Two breakout goalkeepers, one wounded talisman, and a back three built to smother Salah

1J

vs

2H

Messi's record-rewriting machine meets the tournament's great wall in Miami

1K

vs

3D/E/I/J/L

Lorenzo's storm against Queiroz's wall — Colombia's vertical thrust meets the tournament's most stubborn block

W73

vs

W75

Co-hosts on borrowed momentum meet the tournament's coldest, cleanest outsider

W74

vs

W77

The complete side meets the immovable bunker as Paraguay's giant-killers face the tournament's sharpest attack

W76

vs

W78

Brazil's laboured giants meet Haaland's rising Norway — and a hoodoo they have never broken

W79

vs

W80

A flawless co-host meets the fortress England have never conquered

W83

vs

W84

Two aristocracies rejoined in the last 16, one year after their epic Nations League final

W81

vs

W82

A reborn USMNT without its centre-forward meets the rivals who always win — but arrive wobbling and gasping for air

W86

vs

W88

Champions who wobbled meet a Pharaohs side that refuses to lose

W85

vs

W87

Two unbeaten group winners meet, one built to shape-shift, the other to counter