Knockout matches begin with South Africa vs Canada as Iran exit, Africa make history and hopes for Messi-Ronaldo final rise.
The knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on Sunday with South Africa taking on Canada in the first round of 32 tie.
With the group stage complete, the full knockout bracket is now set. Nine African nations have reached the round of 32, Iran were eliminated after Algeria’s late qualification and the draw has left the door open to a Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo final.
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Here’s the full round of 32 schedule, the South Africa vs Canada prediction and the latest World Cup news:
What is Sunday’s schedule?
- South Africa vs Canada at Los Angeles Stadium, California, in the United States at noon (19:00 GMT).
What are the predictions for South Africa vs Canada?
This will be only the second meeting between South Africa and Canada. The sides’ only previous encounter ended in a 2-0 win for Bafana Bafana in a friendly in Durban in 2007.
Canada, however, will be looking to end another unwanted record. They have lost both of their previous competitive matches against African opposition, falling 2-0 to Cameroon at the 2001 Confederations Cup before a 2-1 defeat to Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Despite that history, the Opta supercomputer shows Canada as the clear favourites. They won 55 percent of 25,000 pre-match simulations while South Africa triumphed in 20 percent. The remaining 24.9 percent of its calculations ended level after 90 minutes, which would send the tie to extra time and potentially penalties.
Overall, Canada are given a 67.8 percent chance of reaching the quarterfinals, compared with 32.2 percent for South Africa.
When and where will the other knockout matches be played?
Monday
- Brazil vs Japan: (noon/17:00 GMT) at Houston Stadium, Texas, in the US
- Germany vs Paraguay: (4:30pm/20:30 GMT) at Boston Stadium, Massachusetts, in the US
- Netherlands vs Morocco: (7pm/01:00 GMT on Tuesday) at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico
Tuesday
- Ivory Coast vs Norway (noon/17:00 GMT) at Dallas Stadium, Texas, in the US
- France vs Sweden (5pm/21:00 GMT) at New York/New Jersey Stadium in the US
- Mexico vs Ecuador (7pm/02:00 GMT on Wednesday) at Mexico City Stadium in Mexico
Wednesday
- England vs Democratic Republic of the Congo (noon/16:00 GMT) at Atlanta Stadium, Georgia, in the US
- Belgium vs Senegal (1pm/20:00 GMT) at Seattle Stadium in the US state of Washington
- USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (5pm/00:00 GMT on Thursday) at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, California, in the US
Thursday
- Spain vs Austria (noon/19:00 GMT) at Los Angeles Stadium
- Portugal vs Croatia (7pm/23:00 GMT) at Toronto Stadium, Ontario, Canada
- Switzerland vs Algeria (8pm/03:00 GMT on Friday) at BC Place Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Friday
- Australia vs Egypt (1pm/18:00 GMT) at Dallas Stadium
- Argentina vs Cape Verde (6pm/22:00 GMT) at Miami Stadium, Florida, in the US
- Colombia vs Ghana (8:30pm/01:30 GMT on Saturday) at Kansas City Stadium, Missouri, in the US
What else is happening?
Is Iran eliminated from the 2026 World Cup?
Yes. Iran have been eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Team Melli’s hopes depended on the final Group J match on Saturday between Austria and Algeria. A draw was the only result that could have knocked Iran out, and the 3-3 score meant that Algeria moved above Iran in the ranking of third-placed teams.
Algeria finished third in Group J on four points, enough to take the final available place among the eight best third-placed teams, which advanced to the round of 32.
Iran, who had been holding the last qualifying spot, were, therefore, eliminated in the group stage.
Africa set a new World Cup record
African teams have enjoyed their best ever men’s World Cup campaign.
A record 10 African nations qualified for the expanded 2026 tournament, and nine have reached the round of 32, the most from the continent in a single World Cup.
Those who qualified are: Algeria, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal and South Africa.
Tunisia are the only African side eliminated so far.
The success builds on Africa’s growing influence on the world stage after Morocco’s historic run to the 2022 semifinals. With more nations now consistently challenging football’s traditional powers, the continent is enjoying its strongest World Cup showing yet.
Messi vs Ronaldo final?
A potential knockout clash between superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo remains a possibility – but only if both captains lead their teams all the way to the World Cup 2026 final.
With the round of 32 bracket now confirmed, Argentina and Portugal are on opposite sides of the draw, ruling out the quarterfinal meeting many fans had anticipated. That means football’s two greatest modern rivals can face each other only if both reach the final on July 19.
The bracket has sparked widespread reaction on social media, where fans have been sharing predictions, memes and hopeful scenarios for one last meeting between the two icons, who are both playing in their sixth World Cup.