England in knockout stage as Group L winners

Potential knockout stage opponents

As England finished top of Group L, they will play a third-placed team from Group E, I, J or K at 5pm BST on Wednesday 1 July in Atlanta. The current placings in those groups are below:

Group E: Ecuador
Group I: Senegal.
Group J: Austria or Algeria. Current third-placed team: Algeria.
Group K: Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan. Current third-placed team: DR Congo. 

Should the Three Lions progress beyond the Round of 32, what would their route through the knockout rounds look like?

Round of 16
If we were to progress from the Round of 32, then it would be down to Mexico City where we would face the winner of host nation Mexico’s tie against one of these third-placed finishers: Ecuador, Sweden or Senegal. It would be on Monday 6 July at 1am BST.

Quarter-final

England would travel to Miami, a familiar location where the squad’s pre-tournament camp took place, on Saturday 11 July (10pm BST).

Semi-final
If England win in Florida, we’d be back off to Atlanta for the semi-final, with that game staged on Wednesday 15 July (8pm BST).

The Final weekend
The FIFA 2026 World Cup Final will take place on Sunday 19 July (8pm BST) at the New York-New Jersey Stadium.

There is also a bronze match to decide third place, scheduled in Miami on Saturday 18 July (10pm BST).