Welcome to day seventeen of the 2026 World Cup finals.
We are aiming to bring you a daily round up of the matches to come and recent results.
There are 48 countries at these 2026 World Cup finals, the most there has ever been. The matches to take place across Mexico, Canada and the USA.
The 48 teams are divided into 12 groups of four, with the top two in each group automatically going through and the eight best performing teams who finish third in their groups.
So only 16 of the 48 countries will be knocked out after the 72 group games have all played out, with the other 32 teams going through to the knockout stages.
We have now reached a point where 66 of the 72 group games have been played. That means only six group matches of the 2026 World Cup still to go, with 38 games in total when you include the knockout stages. Nine of the twelve groups have now been played out and another three to be finished off this weekend.
Friday saw Group I decided, in the shootout for deciding the group winners we saw Norway cede that to France. The French putting out a strong team whilst Norway left out ten players including Erling Haaland. It could have got really messy with Dembele scoring a hat-trick in the opening 32 minutes but Norway scored a goal of their own and failed with a penalty, it ended up ‘only’ a 4-1 victory for Deschamps’ side. Helped by an early red card for Iraq, Senegal managed a 5-0 win. The extra goals proved to be crucial in that Senegal are now guaranteed to go through as one of the best eight performing third place teams on three points and +2 GD, rather than having to wait on the remaining groups.
Spain finished top of Group H with a 1-0 win as Uruguay’s goalkeeper made a mistake for the Alex Baena winner. Uruguay finishing third but exiting the tournament on two points. Claiming second place in Group H and automatic progress on three points are undefeated Cape Verde, who played out a goalless draw with bottom of the group Saudi Arabia.
Group G also came to a conclusion in the early hours of Saturday (UK time), a previously unconvincing Belgium following up two draws with a 5-1 thumping of New Zealand which was enough to see the Belgians top the group and the opposition end up bottom.
A lot of excitement in the opening quarter of an hour in the other Group G game, both Egypt and Iran scoring and the latter failing with a penalty. The rest of the match didn’t live up to that early promise and Egypt finish the group second after the 1-1 draw, whilst Iran are all but mathematically certain to go through as well, finishing third on three points and zero GD.
As well as the three remaining groups to conclude, this weekend also sees the first knockout match take place, South Africa v Canada at 10pm (UK time) on Sunday.
It is now 196 goals in 66 matches and this 2026 World Cup no longer on track to average three or more goals per game for the first time since the 1958 World Cup, although not far short of that three goal average. The closest since 1958 was the 1970 Mexico World Cup that averaged 2.97 goals per match, this 2026 World Cup now averaging 2.97 goals per game after the opening 66 matches.
The next seven matches to be played across Saturday and Sunday are detailed below, all kick-offs are shown as UK times and with the channel that is showing them.
Friday 26 June
Japan 1 Sweden 1 Group F
Tunisia 1 Netherlands 3 Group F
Paraguay 0 Australia 0 Group D
Turkey 3 USA 2 Group D
Norway 1 France 4 Group I
Senegal 5 Iraq 0 Group I
Saturday 27 June
Cape Verde 0 Saudi Arabia 0 Group H
Uruguay 0 Spain 1 Group H
Egypt 1 Iran 1 Group G
New Zealand 1 Belgium 5 Group G
Croatia v Ghana 10pm (ITV4) Group L
England v Panama 10pm (ITV1) Group L
Sunday 28 June
Colombia v Portugal 12.30am (BBC1) Group K
DR Congo v Uzbekistan 12.30am (BBC2) Group K
Algeria v Austria 3am (BBC2) Group J
Jordan v Argentina 3am (BBC1) Group J
South Africa v Canada 10pm (TV is TBC) Round of 32 knockout