Ranking the World Cup 2026 groups: Which teams are favourites to progress?

A record 48 teams will contest this summer’s World Cup, with 12 groups making up the first stage of the tournament.

Twelve seeded teams are spread out across the groups, including the three host nations and eight top-ranked countries. The four highest-ranked teams – Spain, Argentina, France and England – were placed in separate sections, or quadrants, of a new tennis-style seeded tournament brac...