How to Win
Overview
Before the tournament starts, you submit a bracket predicting the outcome of the entire FIFA World Cup 2026 in one sitting. You score every group game, the knockout rounds fill in from there, and you finish on the tiebreakers — it’s all part of the same submission. Points are awarded automatically as real match results come in. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Brackets lock on June 10, 2026 (the day before the first match). You must submit before then.
What You Predict
- Group Stage — Enter a predicted scoreline for all 72 group matches (six per group). Standings — 1st through 4th in every group — are computed automatically from your scores.
- Best Third Place (automatic) — From your standings, the 8 best third-place finishers are picked for you to seed the Round of 32. No points, no manual selection — it just happens.
- Knockout Rounds — Pick a winner for every match: R32 → R16 → QF → SF → 3rd-place → Final.
- Tiebreakers — The last step of your submission. Three optional predictions worth 1 pt each (you can skip them and still submit).
Group Stage Points
You’re scored on the final standing each team lands in — derived from the scorelines you entered, not the exact scores themselves. Points stack per tier, so a correct 1st-place prediction earns all three tiers:
| Prediction | Condition | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Team finishes 1st | 5 + 2 + 1 = 8 |
| 2nd place | Team finishes in top 2 | 2 + 1 = 3 |
| 3rd place | Team finishes in top 3 | 1 |
| 4th place | — | 0 |
Max per group: 12 pts · Max total: 144 pts across all 12 groups.
Knockout Stage Points
For each knockout match you earn points for each team you correctly predicted would reach that round, plus a matchup bonus if you predicted both teams correctly.
| Round | Per team | Matchup bonus | Max/match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 32 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Round of 16 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Quarterfinals | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| Semifinals | 12 | 10 | 34 |
| 3rd-place playoff | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| Final | 18 | 15 | 51 |
Max knockout total: 435 pts.
Tiebreakers (1 pt each)
The final step of your initial submission, right after the knockout bracket. All three are optional — skip any and still submit. You can keep editing them until brackets lock on June 10, 2026.
- Total goals scored in the entire tournament (exact integer).
- Top goalscorer — enter a player name. Admin scores manually.
- Exact final score (home goals and away goals).
Reading the Odds
Live Polymarket betting odds are shown throughout the bracket to help you decide. They refresh once a day, and every figure links straight to its market — tap any % to open it on Polymarket. Odds never affect scoring; they’re purely a research tool.
Individual games
On every group-stage match: the implied chance of a home win, draw, or away win. Use these to sanity-check the scorelines you enter for each fixture.
Who wins each group
Beside each team in the group standings: that team’s odds to finish 1st in its group. Use these when deciding how to rank the four teams in a group.
How far a team goes
Beside each team in the knockout bracket: that team’s odds to reach the next round, stepping up each round — Reach R16 → Quarterfinals → Semifinals → Final → World Cup Winner. Use these to judge how deep to send a team.
Wildcard Card
Once all group play is done (and before the first R32 match starts), a one-time card becomes available. It lets you reset your knockout bracket using the actual qualified teams.
Consequences of playing the card:
- All group stage points are forfeited.
- No points for any Round of 32 matches.
The card can only be used once per bracket and cannot be undone.
Maximum Points
| Group stage (12 groups) | 144 |
| Knockout stage | 435 |
| Tiebreakers | 3 |
| Total | 582 |