FIFA World Cup 2026 — Final

World Cup 2026: Spain Are Champions — Model Recap

2026-06-11 – 2026-07-19 • Canada, Mexico, United States • 48 nations • 104 fixtures, all projected & graded

World Cup 2026 result: Spain won the 2026 FIFA World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0 in the final on July 19, 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Spain beat France 2-0 and Argentina beat England 2-1 in the semifinals; England took third place. Our Monte Carlo engine projected all 104 fixtures before kickoff and graded every one in the open — the full scorecard is below.

Model Scorecard — Every Match Projected, Every Match Graded

MetricResult
Match projections published (one per fixture)104 of 104
Correct match calls71 of 104 (68.3%)
High-confidence calls36 of 45 (80.0%)
Exact scorelines17 of 104 (16.3%)
The finalSpain to win at 47.8% (+5.4pp vs market) — HIT, 1-0

Every projection was frozen before kickoff, resolved against the official result, and never edited after the fact. The same engine and grading process now runs year-round across our club soccer predictions — see the full track record.

Closing Champion Odds — Final-Day Simulation (Jul 19)

The last pre-final bracket simulation, preserved as published: Spain 58.5% to lift the trophy against Argentina's 41.5%.

NationChampionReach FinalAdvance GroupElo
Spain58.5%100.0%100.0%2222.1
Argentina41.5%100.0%100.0%2134.2
Algeria0.0%0.0%100.0%1851.5
Australia0.0%0.0%100.0%1869.4
Austria0.0%0.0%100.0%1825.1
Belgium0.0%0.0%100.0%1986.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina0.0%0.0%100.0%1492.3
Brazil0.0%0.0%100.0%2010.1
Canada0.0%0.0%100.0%1841.3
Cape Verde0.0%0.0%100.0%1615.0
Colombia0.0%0.0%100.0%1936.1
Croatia0.0%0.0%100.0%1882.5

Group Stage — Final Advancement

Group A

  1. South Africa100.0% advance
  2. Mexico100.0% advance
  3. Czech Republic0.0% advance
  4. South Korea0.0% advance

Group B

  1. Switzerland100.0% advance
  2. Bosnia and Herzegovina100.0% advance
  3. Canada100.0% advance
  4. Qatar0.0% advance

Group C

  1. Brazil100.0% advance
  2. Morocco100.0% advance
  3. Scotland0.0% advance
  4. Haiti0.0% advance

Group D

  1. Paraguay100.0% advance
  2. Australia100.0% advance
  3. United States100.0% advance
  4. Turkey0.0% advance

Group E

  1. Ivory Coast100.0% advance
  2. Ecuador100.0% advance
  3. Germany100.0% advance
  4. Curaçao0.0% advance

Group F

  1. Sweden100.0% advance
  2. Japan100.0% advance
  3. Netherlands100.0% advance
  4. Tunisia0.0% advance

Group G

  1. Belgium100.0% advance
  2. Egypt100.0% advance
  3. Iran0.0% advance
  4. New Zealand0.0% advance

Group H

  1. Cape Verde100.0% advance
  2. Spain100.0% advance
  3. Saudi Arabia0.0% advance
  4. Uruguay0.0% advance

Group I

  1. Norway100.0% advance
  2. France100.0% advance
  3. Senegal100.0% advance
  4. Iraq0.0% advance

Group J

  1. Austria100.0% advance
  2. Argentina100.0% advance
  3. Algeria100.0% advance
  4. Jordan0.0% advance

Group K

  1. Portugal100.0% advance
  2. Colombia100.0% advance
  3. DR Congo100.0% advance
  4. Uzbekistan0.0% advance

Group L

  1. Ghana100.0% advance
  2. Croatia100.0% advance
  3. England100.0% advance
  4. Panama0.0% advance

Team Pages — All 48 Nations

Every nation has a dedicated hub: full schedule, match-by-match predictions, final results, and round-by-round advancement odds. Sorted by champion probability.

Opening Fixtures — Archived Match Predictions

How these predictions were generated: Every fixture was modeled with an Elo-seeded Dixon-Coles bivariate-Poisson engine, then the full 48-team bracket was Monte Carlo simulated (10,000 runs) to produce champion, finalist, and advancement probabilities, all Bayesian-calibrated. Each projection was frozen before kickoff and graded against the official result — 71 of 104 correct. Full methodology →