Quarter-finals to take place between 9 and 11 July
The fixtures: France-Morocco, Spain-Belgium, Norway-England and Argentina-Switzerland
FIFA assesses the teams making up all four mouthwatering quarter-final ties
The is entering its final furlong. Of the 48 teams that kicked off the competition, only eight can still dream of lifting the world’s most coveted trophy at New York/New Jersey Stadium on 19 July. Here FIFA crunches the numbers and reflects on key facts and figures involving the eight teams still in play in North America.
It is a true upending of the world football hierarchy. For the first time in any edition of the World Cup, neither Germany nor Brazil are among the quarter-finalists. Ten of 17 editions of the World Cup including quarter-finals* have featured both of those giants of world football at the same time. Germany missed out on the quarter-final stage in 1938, 1950, 2018 and 2022, and Brazil in 1934, 1966 and 1990, but never before have both heavyweights left proceedings before this stage of the tournament. *There were no quarter-finals in the 1930, 1950, 1974, 1978 and 1982 editions.
Of the eight quarter-finalists at Qatar 2022, four have managed to reach this stage again four years on: Argentina, England, France and Morocco. Then, only England failed to make it beyond the quarter-final stage, beaten by Les Bleus. Both finalists from 2022 are still in the competition on separate sides of the draw, meaning that the tournament could well offer up the same showpiece for two consecutive editions for the first time since the World Cups of 1986 and 1990, when Argentina and West Germany contested back-to-back finals.
While four of the eight quarter-finalists have already lifted the Trophy – Argentina (three titles), France (two), England and Spain (one each) – the other four are still in pursuit of a first world crown. Belgium and Morocco have never made it past the semi-finals. Switzerland last played in the quarter-finals at their home World Cup in 1954. Norway had never previously gone beyond the Round of 16. This 2026 edition could, therefore, see a new nation claim the prize for the first time since Spain’s coronation in 2010.
Of the eight nations still competing, only one will be experiencing the World Cup quarter-finals for the very first time: Norway. Spearheaded by the outstanding Erling Haaland, the Scandinavian outfit eliminated Brazil in the previous round to continue their journey. By contrast England, their next opponents, are the team who have featured at this stage of the competition on the most occasions (10). They are followed by France (nine), Argentina (eight), Spain (five) and Belgium and Switzerland (three). For Morocco, this will be only their second quarter-final.
Ahead of Thursday’s reunion with 2022 semi-final rivals France, Morocco have already built on their success in Qatar where they became the first team from Africa to reach the last four of a World Cup. In North America, the Atlas Lions have this time become the first African team to reach the quarter-finals in two consecutive editions.
Aside from one team from Africa, the quarter-final bracket is made up of one South American nation and six European sides, which is the same as at Russia 2018 and one more than at Qatar 2022.
Six of the 12 group winners remain in contention: Switzerland (Group B), Belgium (Group G), Spain (Group H), France (Group I), Argentina (Group J) and England (Group L). The only exceptions are Morocco and Norway, who finished second in Groups C and I respectively. There are, therefore, none of the best third-placed teams at this stage of the tournament. Indeed, only one of those side made it through to the previous round – Paraguay, who fell 1-0 against France.
Among the eight teams still in the competition, France are the only side to have won all five of their tournament games without going to extra time. Argentina almost boast the same record: they have five wins also but the Albiceleste required 30 extra minutes to defeat Cabo Verde 3-2 in the Round of 32. Spain and England have each racked up four victories and one draw. Norway, the only team still competing to have lost a match, have a record of four wins and one defeat, which came against France. As for Belgium, Morocco and Switzerland, they each have the same record of three wins and two draws.
Spain have had an impressive journey to the quarter-finals, notably for their fact their defence has yet to be breached after five matches. With this edition being the first in history to feature a Round of 32, that makes it the first time since Italy in 1990 that a team have reached this stage of the competition without a single goal conceded. For goals-against, they are followed by France (two), Switzerland (three), Morocco (four), England, Argentina and Belgium (five), and Norway (nine).
Even if their paths have differed thus far, both of the 2022 finalists go into the quarter-finals boasting strong attacking records. Spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi respectively, France and Argentina have each scored 14 goals in North America, which is one more than Belgium (13). They are followed by Norway (12), England (11), Morocco (10) and finally Spain and Switzerland (nine apiece).
The battle for the adidas Golden Boot promises to light up the tail-end of this tournament. Ahead of the quarter-finals, three of the biggest stars in world football share the leading roles – Lionel Messi with eight goals and Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland with seven each. While Messi and Haaland can each still dream of taking Mbappe’s crown after he won the award in Qatar, hot on their heels is the six-goal Harry Kane, winner of the award in 2018. Further behind, Jude Bellingham and Ousmane Dembele – with four goals each – or revelations such as Ismael Saibari and Johan Manzambi (three apiece) will hope to profit from the matches that remain to add to their tallies.
Sources: FIFA Official
