Pool & bracket guide
World Cup 2026 pool & bracket
A World Cup is the perfect excuse for an office pool, a sweepstake with friends or a prediction bracket. Here’s everything you need for World Cup 2026: the group draw, how pools and brackets work, and how to drop every match straight into your group’s calendars so nobody misses a kickoff.
Add the bracket to your calendarHow a World Cup pool works
In a classic sweepstake everyone is randomly assigned a country; if your team wins the tournament, you win the pot. In a prediction pool, players score points for correctly calling group winners, knockout results and the final. Both run from the same thing: the official schedule and the group draw.
With 48 teams in 12 groups, 2026 has more matches and more upsets than ever — 104 games in total — which makes pools more fun and harder to predict.
The group draw at a glance
The 48 teams are split into 12 groups of four (A to L). The top two from each group, plus the eight best third-placed teams, advance to a 32-team knockout bracket: round of 32, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final on 19 July 2026.
Browse every group and team on the schedule page, then assign them to your pool players.
Add the whole bracket to your calendar
The hardest part of any pool is remembering when matches kick off across US, Canadian and Mexican time zones. WorldCup2Calendar fixes that: add all 48 teams (or just the ones in your pool) and every fixture lands in Google, Apple or Outlook in your local time, updating automatically if kickoff times change.
Share the link with your whole pool so everyone is on the same schedule — free, no account needed.
Frequently asked questions
How many teams are in the World Cup 2026 pool?
There are 48 teams in 12 groups of four — ideal for a sweepstake of up to 48 players.
Where can I find the full bracket?
The complete schedule and knockout bracket are on the schedule page, and you can add every match to your calendar in one click.
Is it free to add the matches to my calendar?
Yes — WorldCup2Calendar is completely free, needs no account and updates automatically.
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