The 2026 FIFA World Cup has moved past the group stage, with the full schedule for the knockout round of 32 now finalized, kicking off Sunday with an opening matchup between South Africa and Canada at Los Angeles Stadium in California.
This opening fixture marks just the second ever meeting between the two sides. Their only previous encounter was a 2007 friendly held in Durban, where South Africa (nicknamed Bafana Bafana) secured a 2-0 victory. For Canada, the matchup presents an opportunity to break an unfortunate historical trend: the North American side has lost both of its previous official matches against African opponents, falling 2-0 to Cameroon at the 2001 Confederations Cup and 2-1 to Morocco at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Despite this history, bookmakers and analysts currently favor Canada to claim a win in regulation. If the two sides cannot be separated after 90 minutes, the match will advance to extra time followed by a penalty shootout if needed to determine a winner.
The full confirmed schedule for the remainder of the round of 32 is as follows:
Monday, June 29: Brazil vs Japan at Houston Stadium, Texas (14:00 local time); Germany vs Paraguay at Boston Stadium, Massachusetts (17:30 local time); Netherlands vs Morocco at Monterrey Stadium, Mexico (22:00 local time)
Tuesday, June 30: Ivory Coast vs Norway at Dallas Stadium, Texas (14:00 local time); France vs Sweden at New York/New Jersey Stadium (18:00 local time); Mexico vs Ecuador at Mexico City Stadium, Mexico (22:00 local time)
Wednesday, July 1: England vs DR Congo at Atlanta Stadium, Georgia (13:00 local time); Belgium vs Senegal at Seattle Stadium, Washington (17:00 local time); USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, California (21:00 local time)
Thursday, July 2: Spain vs Austria at Los Angeles Stadium (16:00 local time); Portugal vs Croatia at Toronto Stadium, Ontario (20:00 local time); Switzerland vs Algeria at BC Place Vancouver, British Columbia (00:00 Friday local time)
Friday, July 3: Australia vs Egypt at Dallas Stadium (15:00 local time); Argentina vs Cape Verde at Miami Stadium, Florida (19:00 local time); Colombia vs Ghana at Kansas City Stadium, Missouri (22:30 local time)
Off the pitch, one major late development from the group stage saw Iran eliminated from the tournament, knocked out in dramatic fashion on the final matchday. Iran’s hopes of advancing depended on the result of Group J’s closing fixture between Austria and Algeria: Iran would only miss out on the cut for best third-placed teams if the match ended in a draw. The fixture finished 3-3, pushing Algeria into the final available round of 32 spot with four points as one of the eight best third-placed finishers, eliminating Iran from the competition.
The biggest story of the 2026 World Cup group stage is the historic breakthrough by African nations, which have set a new tournament record for progression. A total of 10 African teams qualified for the expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup, and nine of those have advanced to the round of 32 – the highest number of knockout-stage qualifiers from any single continent in World Cup history. The nine advancing sides are Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal and South Africa, with Tunisia the only African nation to exit at the group stage.
This milestone builds on the growing strength of African men’s football, which began with Morocco’s historic run to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals. As more African sides consistently challenge traditional football powerhouses, the continent has secured its strongest ever showing at the men’s World Cup.
For football fans around the globe, one highly anticipated storyline remains alive: a final showdown between global superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is still possible, should both captains lead their nations all the way to the July 19 final. With the knockout bracket now finalized, Argentina (led by Messi) and Portugal (captained by Ronaldo) are on opposite halves of the draw, which rules out the widely hoped-for quarter-final meeting between the two icons. That leaves the final as the only possible stage for the legendary rivals to face off in what would be one of the most iconic matches in football history.