The 2026 North American World Cup has crossed its first major milestone. In the night leading up to today, the final matches in the concluding group quartets officially concluded, bringing an end to the largest group stage in the history of world football. This is reported by RBK-Ukraine citing official FIFA results.
Results of the Largest Group Stage Ever
Over the course of just over two weeks, the 48 strongest national teams on the planet engaged in fierce competition across 12 groups. By the end of this uncompromising distance, exactly one-third of the teams — 16 unsuccessful group stage participants — are already heading home. The 32 best teams, having passed the selection sieve, have formed the pairings for the first knockout round.
List of Eliminated Teams
After the group stage, 16 teams failed to advance to the tournament's knockout phase. The following teams concluded their participation in the World Cup:
- South Korea
- Czech Republic
- Qatar
- Scotland
- Haiti
- Turkey
- Curaçao
- Tunisia
- Iran
- New Zealand
- Uruguay
- Saudi Arabia
- Iraq
- Jordan
- Uzbekistan
- Panama
Now, the attention of the entire world will shift to the knockout stages, where the competition will become even tougher, and every mistake could cost a team its chance at the trophy.