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Africa And South America Lead The Way As SSI Media Brings You Details Of A Record Breaking 2026 World Cup That Starts Its Knockout Matches Today
At this year’s tournament, eight teams will be thanking FIFA for extending the knockout-stage field with 32 teams instead of the classic 16-team look.
Teams that finished third in their group who had more desirable points and goal differential, got the last-second nod into the knockout stages. If teams had the same amount of points, goal differential (the difference between how many goals a team scores and allows) is examined as a tiebreaker.
Seven teams topped the third-place charts with four points (a win, a draw, and a loss), while Senegal qualified despite only having three total points.
Here are the eight teams that are still standing, despite finishing third place in their groups.
Third-place standings in 2026 World Cup
For the first time ever, third-place teams will be able to qualify for the knockout stages at the World Cup. Here’s which eight teams fell fortunate to news rules at this year’s tournament:
1. DR Congo 4pts +1
2. Sweden 4 pts 0
3. Ghana 4 pts 0
4. Ecuador 4 pts 0
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 pts -1
6. Algeria 4pts -2
7.Paraguay 4pts -2
8. Senegal 3pts 0.
Before we give you the details on how these 8 teams qualified and other records shattered in this year’s World Cup tournament, let’s give you the full Round of 32 fixtures, date and time(Nigerian time):
South Africa vs Canada-today, Sunday, 28th June,2026: 8pm.
Monday, June 29th:
Brazil vs Japan- 6pm
Germany vs Paraguay- 9:30pm
Tuesday, June 30th
Netherlands vs Morocco- 2am
Ivory Coast vs Norway- 6pm
France vs Sweden- 11pm
Wednesday, 1st July
Mexico vs Ecuador- 2am
England vs DR Congo- 5pm
Belgium vs Senegal- 9pm
Thursday, 2nd July
USA vs Bosnia and Herzegovina- 1am
Spain vs Austria- 8pm
Friday, 3rd July
Portugal vs Croatia- 12am
Switzerland vs Algeria- 4am
Australia vs Egypt- 7pm
Argentina vs Cape Verde- 11pm
Saturday, 4th July
Colombia vs Ghana- 2:30am.
Africa(CAF) and South America(CONMEBOL) have the best representations at the ongoing World Cup, with both having only one team each ousted out of their lots that qualified.
Europe(UEFA) went to the world cup with 16 teams, 13 are left after the Group stage with 3 missing. The remaining teams are: Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, Spain, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway, England and Switzerland.
Africa(CAF) went to the World Cup with 10 teams, all made it to the Round of 32 except, Tunisia. The lucky 9 are: Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and DR Congo.
Asia went with 9 teams, only the duo of Australia and Japan made it to the Round of 32 from the Group Stage.
South America(CONMEBOL) went to the World Cup with 6 teams, only Uruguay could not make it from the Group Stage. The other 5 like: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay made it to the knockout stage.
North America(CONCACAF) went to the World Cup with 6 teams, only 3, who happen to be the hosts, qualify to the knockout stage and they include: USA, Mexico and Canada.
Oceania came with only one team, New Zealand, but couldn’t cross the group stage hurdle.
The highest goals scorers thus far:
Lionel Messi- 6 goals, 0 assist
Kylian Mbappe- 4 goals, 2 assists
Ousmane Dembele- 4 goals, 1 assist
Vinicius Junior – 4 goals, 1 assist
Erling Haaland- 4 goals, 0 assist.
Now, here is how the lucky 8 made it to the knockout Round of 32 and other records that characterised this year’s World Cup:
Sweden:
Thanks to a neutral goal differential, Sweden is on to the Round of 32 with a win against Tunisia, a draw against Japan, and a loss to the Netherlands.
Sweden will share the pitch with 2022 runner-up France in the Round of 32.
Ghana:
A hard-fought draw against England and a win against Panama were enough to negate a loss to Croatia in Ghana’s final match and push them into the Round of 32 as a third-place finisher.
Ghana will face Colombia.
Ecuador:
After a shocking win against Germany, Ecuador is on its way to the Round of 32 as a third-place team. Their lone loss against the Ivory Coast was recovered by this win and a draw against Curacao.
They will face Mexico in the Round of 32.
Bosnia and Herzegovina:
A win against Qatar and a draw against co-host Canada were enough to save Bosnia and Herzegovina’s loss to Switzerland. They qualified for the Round of 32 as a third-place team.
They will face the co-hosts United States, in the Round of 32.
Paraguay:
Despite a tough first match against the United States, Paraguay pushed ahead with a draw against Australia and a win against Turkey and qualified for the Round of 32 as a third-place finisher.
Paraguay will face Germany in the first round of the knockout stages.
Senegal:
Although they lost two matches to France and Norway, Senegal’s solo win against Iraq was enough to salvage their goal differential and push them into the Round of 32 as a third-place finisher.
Senegal will face Belgium in the Round of 32.
Algeria:
Algeria qualified for the Round of 32 as the third-place team from Group J. After they took a late lead against Austria, the Algerians let up a late goal. With the draw though, Algeria still beat out Iran for the final third-place spot in the Round of 32.
They will face Switzerland in the Round of 32.
DR Congo:
In their first World Cup tournament since 1974, DR Congo became one of the last two teams to qualify for the Round of 32. With a 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan, Les Leopards finished as one of the eight third-place teams.
DR Congo will face England in the knockout round.
Yes, 2026 has been a record-breaking World Cup for players. Here are the big ones so far:
### *Lionel Messi – Argentina [Age 38-39]*
1. *All-time top World Cup scorer: 18 goals*
Passed Miroslav Klose’s 16 and Marta’s 17. Now stands alone with 18
2. *Oldest hat-trick scorer ever*: At 38 years, 357 days vs Algeria
3. *Youngest + Oldest Argentine scorer*: Scored at 18y 357d in 2006 AND 38y 357d in 2026 — exactly 20 years apart
4. *6th World Cup appearance*: First player ever to play in 6 tournaments. Joined by Ronaldo + Ochoa
5. *Most World Cup appearances*: 28 matches
6. *Most goal contributions ever*: 24 = 18 goals + 8 assists.
### *Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal [Age 41]*
1. *Scores at 6 different World Cups*: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026. First player ever
2. *Oldest to score 2+ goals in a game*: 41 years, 138 days
3. *8 players 40+ at one World Cup*: Record. More than all 22 past tournaments combined.
### *Fastest Goals of 2026*
1. *Fastest this edition: 1 min 5 secs* – Matías Galazara, Paraguay vs Turkiye
2. *2nd fastest: 1 min 11 secs* – Ismael Saibari, Morocco vs Scotland
= Fastest ever by Morocco, 2nd-fastest by an African
3. *All-time record still stands*: Hakan Sukur, Turkey – 11 seconds in 2002 32c12530
### *Youngest Scorers in 2026*
1. *Ibrahim Mbaye, Senegal*: 18 years, 143 days vs France = 4th youngest ever
2. *Kerim Alajbegovic, Bosnia-Herzegovina*: 18 years, 276 days vs Qatar = 8th youngest ever
3. *Lamine Yamal, Spain*: 18 years, 343 days vs Saudi Arabia = 9th youngest ever
4. *Overall record still Pelé*: 17 years, 239 days in 1958 0efa48d5
### *Other Notable Records*
1. *Group stage goals in one tournament: 6* – Messi matched Just Fontaine’s record
2. *Youngest at 2026*: Gilberto Mora, Mexico – 17 years, 240 days at kickoff
3. *Oldest player*: Craig Gordon, Scotland GK – 43 years old 48d5ec450acc
*Messi vs Mbappe race*: Mbappe hit 14 total goals and drew level with Klose on 16 during 2026 ongoing World Cup.
Twams are not left out as well. Here are the big ones so far:
*Tournament Format Records*
1. *First 48-team World Cup*
Previous was 32 teams since 1998. Now 12 groups of 4 → Round of 32
2. *New Round of 32*
Extra knockout round added. Teams now need 8 wins to be champions vs 7 in 2022
3. *Two-thirds advance*: 32 of 48 teams made knockouts
Top 2 from each group + 8 best 3rd-place teams
*Host & Location Records*
1. *First 3-nation host*: USA, Mexico, Canada together
All 3 co-hosts made Round of 32
2. *Most games ever*: 104 matches total vs 64 in 2022
*Team & Nation Records*
1. *Biggest World Cup ever*: 48 nations
Includes 4 debutants: Cape Verde, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Curacao
2. *Cape Verde*: Tiniest nation ever to reach knockouts
Made Round of 32 on debut
3. *South Africa*: Reached knockouts for the first time in their history
4. *Bosnia & Herzegovina*: First-ever knockout appearance via best 3rd-place
*African Record*
*10 African teams in Round of 32*
That’s CAF’s best-ever showing: Morocco, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Senegal, DR Congo, Ghana, Cape Verde and Algeria.
Credit also to Andrew Gitto
