A FIFA World Cup 2026 Schedule and Scoresheet is a downloadable Excel template that helps fans track the full tournament schedule with scoresheet features where they can update the scores and get those teams ranked automatically in group standings. The spreadsheet will calculates those rankings by following the new World Cup 2026 tie-breaker. The tie-breaker is more complicated compared with previous World Cups. It prioritizes head-to-head matches between teams with similar points.
This spreadsheet is ideal for fans who want to follow the 2026 World Cup schedule, analyze statistics, or run prediction games with friends, family, or coworkers.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Tournament Overview
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest tournament, in term of participants, in football history. Furthermore, this is the first time that the competition will be hosted by three countries: United States, Canada and Mexico.
The tournament will take place between June 11 and July 19, 2026.
Unlike the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was played in winter, the 2026 tournament returns to the traditional summer football calendar.
The event will feature more teams, more matches, and more excitement, making it one of the most anticipated sporting events in the world.
New FIFA World Cup 2026 Format
The 2026 World Cup introduces a major expansion in the competition format.
Key Format Changes
- The number of teams increases from 32 to 48
- The tournament consists of 12 groups
- Each group contains 4 teams
- Top 2 teams from each group qualify automatically. There are 24 teams in total
- 8 Best third-place teams also qualify
- 32 teams advance to the knockout stage. The first round will be Round of 32.
Because of the larger format, the tournament will present 104 total matches, significantly more than previous editions.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Groups
Below are the current tournament groups. Some teams will be confirmed after qualification playoffs that will take time at the end of March.
Group A
- Mexico
- South Africa
- Korea Republic
- UEFA Winner D (Czech Republic / Republic of Ireland / Denmark / North Macedonia)
Group B
- Canada
- Switzerland
- Qatar
- UEFA Winner A (Wales / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Italy / Northern Ireland)
Group C
- Brazil
- Morocco
- Haiti
- Scotland
Group D
- United States
- Paraguay
- Australia
- UEFA Winner C (Slovakia / Kosovo / Turkey / Romania)
Group E
- Germany
- Curaçao
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Ecuador
Group F
- Netherlands
- Japan
- Tunisia
- UEFA Winner B (Ukraine / Sweden / Poland / Albania)
Group G
- Belgium
- Egypt
- Iran (if Iran is not pulling out)
- New Zealand
Group H
- Spain
- Cabo Verde
- Saudi Arabia
- Uruguay
Group I
- France
- Senegal
- Norway
- IC Winner 2 (Iraq / Bolivia / Suriname)
Group J
- Argentina
- Algeria
- Austria
- Jordan
Group K
- Portugal
- Uzbekistan
- Colombia
- IC Winner 1 (DR Congo / New Caledonia / Jamaica)
Group L
- England
- Croatia
- Ghana
- Panama
The host nations are USA, Canada and Mexico, while Argentina enters as the defending champion after winning the 2022 tournament.
Group Tie-Breaker
As mentioned previously, there are major changes in group tie-breaker. This tournament will follow previous Club World Cup 2025 and Euro 2024 group tie-breaker that prioritizes head-to-head matches over all matches stats if teams are sharing similar points.
If two or more team have the same number of points, the tiebreakers are as follows, in descending order of precedence.
- Most points obtained in HEAD-to-HEAD games between teams in question
- Goal difference in HEAD-to-HEAD games between teams in question
- Goals scored in HEAD-to-HEAD games between teams in question
- Goal difference in ALL group matches
- Goals scored in ALL group matches
- Best disciplinary record (red and yellow cards)
- Most recent FIFA world ranking
- If two or more teams still can’t be separated, then they’ll go back to the previous FIFA world ranking, repeating if necessary until they can be distinguished
How are the best third-placed sides calculated?
The ranking for the best third-placed sides is slightly different. FIFA will essentially put all the third-placed sides into a single 12-team league table and rank them on the following criteria, in descending order where the top 8 will advance to Round of 32.
- Most points
- Best goal difference
- Goals scored
- Best disciplinary record (yellow and red cards)
- Most recent FIFA world ranking
- If two or more teams still can’t be separated, then they’ll go back to the previous FIFA world ranking, repeating if necessary until they can be distinguished
- For the avoidance of doubt, that does mean it’s possible for a side to finish fourth in their group and go out of the tournament, despite having more points than one or more of the third-placed sides who have progress to the next round (as happened to Ukraine at Euro 2024).
World Cup 2026 Schedule and Scoresheet Spreadsheet
Fans can use this file as a World Cup schedule, scoresheet and team tracker. It has formulas to automate all rankings and Knock Out placement process. They just need to entry the scores and let the Excel do the magic.
Main Features
✔ Full tournament schedule
✔ Automatic standings calculation
✔ Automatic Knock Out teams bracket placement
✔ Multi-language support (you can also translate to your own language)
✔ Timezone conversion (type time difference with your location)
Users simply enter match scores, and the spreadsheet automatically updates anything.
In group stages, since there will be no extra time, users type final scores in score boxes. In Knock Out rounds, users will get additional Penalty Shoot Out score boxes if full time match is ended without a winner. Users can continue typing penalty shoot out results in particular score boxes. Do this until the final match.
It’s one of the best tools for anyone who wants to stay organized while watching the FIFA World Cup 2026.
There are several models you can use below. They are all protected. You can purchase the unprotected versions to get more models (there is a model for Google Spreadsheet as well) for your commercial purposes or if you just want to have more flexibility on using it. Below templates are for Excel only.
General Model and Model with Automated Nation Flag have similar layout. The differences are in nation flag where the model with Automated Nation Flag will show you Country’s flag in Knock Out rounds automatically.
World Cup 2026 Schedule and Scoresheet - Automated Flag (634.7 KiB, 111 hits)
World Cup 2026 Schedule and Scoresheet - General (527.7 KiB, 107 hits)
This model below is a colorful one. Matches are grouped by group matches. Knock Out rounds are arranged in the right side where particular group color will be shown as team background automatically.
World Cup 2026 Schedule and Scoresheet - Colorful (397.0 KiB, 105 hits)
World Cup 2026 Schedule with Goal Scorers Tracker
This model has goal scorers columns in its schedule and scoresheet tabs. Fans or users who want to track goal scorers and have them ranked in Top Scorer table could use this one. You can download it below. Player names are still dummy names. You can update it by yourself. Official player names should be finalize by June 1st, 2026.
World Cup 2026 Schedule with Top Scorer (922.5 KiB, 104 hits)
