Forecasts 2026

Before the tournament began, twenty-three people were brave (and punctual) enough to make some forecasts. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see how good (or bad) some of those were...

Semi Finalists:
Twenty-one people tipped Spain to reach the Semi-Finals, and twenty tipped France.
Eleven people tipped Argentina and eleven tipped England.
Brazil received ten votes, Germany and Portugal six, with Mexico and Japan gaining two.

Congratulations to Christian, Franzi and Paul who correctly tipped all four semi-finalists.

Winner:
Eight people tipped Spain to win the 2026 World Cup.
Eight people tipped France.
Three people tipped England.
Argentina, Germany, Mexico and Portugal received one vote each.

Preferred Victor:
Fourteen different countries were voted for.
England received the most love, with five people choosing the Three Lions.
Japan was selected by three people.
Two votes each went to Cape Verde, Croatia, Portugal and Spain.
Nobody voted for Argentina or France.

Surprise Package:
Twelve countries were tipped to be surprisingly successful.
Seven people tipped Norway to be the tournament's surprise package. Three people tipped Mexico, and Ghana, Japan and Scotland recevied two tips each.
Only one person noticed that I sneaked Italy into the list.
The other countries (with 1 vote each) were Austria, Cape Verde, Italy, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Switzerland and Uzbekistan.

Crash and Burn:
Seven people wanted to see Argentina fail badly, and seven others tipped the US.
Four people wanted France to flop.
Portugal did not get any votes this year.

Golden Boot
Harry Kane was the most popular player here with seven votes.
Donald Trump came second with five votes, and made accusations of cheating in Georgia, despite Georgia not qualifying for the World Cup.
Kylian Mbappe received four votes and the Golden Boot.