Paraguay, Egypt, Portugal, England, and Ghana qualify for World Cup Round of 32

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is doing exactly what FIFA hoped a 48-team tournament would do: creating more chaos, more heartbreak, and more Cinderella stories than any World Cup before it. Paraguay, Egypt, Portugal, England, and Ghana have all secured their spots in the Round of 32, a knockout stage that literally did not exist until this tournament.

The qualifications were confirmed across June 26-27, 2026, with some teams cruising through as group winners, others scraping by as runners-up, and at least one sneaking in through the expanded format’s best third-place pathway.

How each team got through

Paraguay’s route was the most precarious of the five. They advanced as one of the best third-place teams, a qualification mechanism that only exists because FIFA expanded the tournament from 32 to 48 teams. Their path required a win over Türkiye and a draw with Australia, a combination that was just enough to keep them alive when other groups’ results fell their way.

England and Ghana took a more straightforward route through Group L. The two sides played to a 0-0 draw on June 24, a result that proved sufficient to send both nations into the knockout rounds.

Portugal and Egypt also confirmed their qualification on June 27, according to FIFA reports.

The 48-team experiment, stress-tested

This is the first World Cup with 48 teams, up from the 32-team format that had been standard since 1998. The expansion means 16 groups of three teams each, with the top two from every group advancing automatically and the eight best third-place finishers joining them in a 32-team knockout bracket.

The Round of 32 knockout stage kicks off on June 28, 2026, adding an extra round of single-elimination matches before the tournament reaches the traditional Round of 16.

Colombia and Australia have also advanced to the knockout rounds, further illustrating the geographic breadth of this tournament’s survivor pool.

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