Khaberni - The current edition of the 2026 World Cup competitions continues amid significant interest in an exceptional edition witnessing the participation of 48 teams for the first time in history.
The current edition of the 2026 World Cup competitions continues amid significant interest in an exceptional edition witnessing the participation of 48 teams for the first time in history.
The World Cup competitions began on June 11 and will continue until July 19, held across three countries: Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
With some teams closely matched, teams may end up tied in points at the end of the group stage, which opens the door to applying tie-breaking regulations to definitively decide the ranking of each group.
World Cup qualification is not solely decided by the number of points as other criteria play a crucial role in ties, such as the results of direct confrontations, goal difference, and the number of goals scored before resorting to additional criteria set by the tournament regulations.
The 2026 World Cup regulations specify clear criteria for deciding the rankings of teams in the group stage in case two or more teams are tied in points after the third round.
These criteria aim to determine the final positions within each group, and consequently, the allocation of qualification spots to the round of 32 of the tournament.
How is qualification from World Cup groups decided in case of points tie?
The first rule:
In case two or more teams are tied in points at the end of the group stage, the first criterion applied is the number of points each team earned in the matches between the tied teams.
If the tie persists, then goal difference in the matches between the tied teams is considered, followed by the number of goals scored in those match-ups.
This stage is the first of the tie-breaking criteria, giving an advantage to the team that performed better in direct confrontations against the teams it is tied with.
The second rule
If the ranking is not decided through direct confrontations, the next step looks at each team's results over all the group matches.
First, the best goal difference across all group matches is considered, followed by the greatest number of goals scored in all the group's matches.
If the tie persists, consideration is given to the fair play and discipline criterion, based on the number of yellow and red cards the players and officials of the team received during the group matches.
The third rule
If the positions remain undecided after applying the criteria of direct confrontations, goal difference, the number of goals scored, and the discipline standard, the final recourse is the FIFA global ranking.
The regulation stipulates ranking the teams tied in points according to the latest edition of the FIFA global ranking of teams published.
Based on these criteria, the final positions within each group are determined and thus the identities of the teams advancing to the next round of the 2026 World Cup are decided.
