Every Team Eliminated From the 2026 World Cup

The vast majority of teams have seen their World Cup journeys end in heartbreak.

Kylian Mbappé couldn’t reach a third World Cup final. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

The 2026 World Cup is the biggest in tournament history, with 48 teams traveling to the United States, Canada and Mexico in pursuit of glory. In the end, however, there can only be one winner.

We’ve already seen the end of underdog stories and the fall of giants, with this summer producing plenty of excitement and drama, and there is still likely to be plenty more before the trophy is lifted on July 19.

Here’s every team to have been eliminated from the 2026 World Cup so far.

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Group Stage

Türkiye’s exit was a huge surprise. | Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images

• Haiti
• Türkiye
• Tunisia
• Jordan
• Panama
• Czechia
• Qatar
• Curaçao
• Iraq
• Uruguay
• Saudi Arabia
• New Zealand
• Scotland
• Uzbekistan
• South Korea
• Iran

Haiti became the first team eliminated from the tournament after losing its first two group games, shortly before Türkiye’s profligacy brought another early exit for a team many expected to make some noise in the knockout stages.

Tunisia fired its manager after one game in an unsuccessful attempt to salvage a slow start to life in Group F, while Jordan and Panama, Czechia, Qatar, Curaçao and Iraq’s eliminations were all confirmed soon after.

Group H was headlined by Spain and featured the heroics of Cabo Verde, but that came at the expense of Uruguay. The South American giant seemed certain to reach the knockouts but failure to beat any of the teams in the group, including Saudi Arabia, sealed a shocking early exit.

New Zealand was eliminated with one point in Group G, while in Group C, Scotland’s dream summer came crashing down as defeats to Morocco and Brazil left the team unable to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.

Uzbekistan failed to pick up a single point in Group K and was knocked out shortly before South Korea, but the most dramatic exit went to Iran. Amid complaints over its treatment from both the United States and FIFA, Iran looked to be sneaking through to the knockouts in third place before a 96th-minute header from Austria’s Saša Kalajdžić sent the Europeans through instead.

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Round of 32

Germany could not overcome Paraguay. | Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

• South Africa
• Japan
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Sweden
• Ecuador
• DR Congo
• Senegal
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Austria
• Croatia
• Algeria
• Australia
• Cabo Verde
• Ghana

South Africa crashed out by conceding to Canada’s Stephen Eustáquio in stoppage time, one day before a spirited Japan side let a one-goal lead slip and was dumped out by Brazil.

Then came the biggest shock of the round of 32 as Germany fell to Paraguay on penalties to extend a run of 12 years without a knockout victory at the World Cup. There was some surprise to see the Netherlands exit early, although defeat to Morocco was somewhat justifiable.

Côte d’Ivoire put in a series of encouraging showings but was unable to advance past Norway. Sweden, meanwhile, was no match for a France side backed by many to go on and win the entire tournament.

Next to fall were Ecuador and DR Congo, bested by Mexico and England respectively, and Senegal soon joined them after giving up a 2–0 lead to lose 3–2 to Belgium.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was no match for the USMNT, while Austria was comprehensively beaten by a rampant Spain side.

Controversy reigned as a late VAR intervention sent Croatia out at Portugal’s hands and Algeria slumped to defeat against Switzerland. Egypt needed penalties to sneak beyond Australia.

The feel-good story of the summer belongs to Cabo Verde. Given the daunting task of dueling with Argentina and Lionel Messi, the lowest-ranked team to ever qualify for the knockout stages were downed by a 111th-minute Cristian Romero header, having previously twice come from behind to send the game to extra time.

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Round of 16

Neymar retired from Brazil duty after the defeat. | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

• Canada
• Paraguay
• Brazil
• Mexico
• Portugal
• USA
• Egypt
• Colombia

Canada became the first of the three co-hosts to leave the competition after a 3–0 defeat to Morocco, before Paraguay’s surprisingly extended summer came to an abrupt halt against Kylian Mbappé and France.

For the first time since 1990, Brazil failed to reach the quarterfinals of a World Cup, falling to an Erling Haaland-led Norway outfit making some serious noise this summer. Hours later, Mexico’s time in the tournament was cut short following a dramatic 3–2 defeat to England.

Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo soon saw their dreams of a maiden World Cup title dashed by a stoppage-time winner from Mikel Merino, who secured Spain’s 1–0 win just six minutes after coming into the game.

The co-host USA saw its dreamy World Cup run come to a cruel and heartbreaking end, falling to Belgium 4–1 in Seattle. The Stars and Stripes looked out of sorts for 90 minutes straight, which starkly contrasted the confidence and poise the team had played with up until that point.

Egypt will fly home scratching its head and wondering how it all went so wrong, so fast. The Pharaohs came out blazing from the kickoff against Argentina and held a heroic 2–0 lead heading into the final 11 minutes of the match. They seemed fated to topple the title-holder and seal one of the greatest World Cup upsets. Argentina achieved the impossible, though, scoring three unanswered goals before the final whistle and snatching Egypt’s glory from its hand.

Next to pack its bags was Colombia, who lost in a penalty shootout against Switzerland after playing to a scoreless draw through extra time.

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Quarterfinals

It was not Morocco’s day against France. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

• Morocco
• Belgium
• Norway
• Switzerland

“I don’t like the feeling that we have already done well by getting here and everything else is a bonus,” Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi sniffed ahead of his side's quarterfinal with France. “No, the bonus is to win the World Cup. That is the mentality that has brought us this far and we want to go even further.”

Well, there was no bonus for the AFCON champion to take. In the absence of the injured Ismael Saibari, Morocco put forward a pitiful, toothless challenge. Even after France soft-pedaled its way through the closing stages, the African giant could only muster one shot on target.

Belgium was simply outmatched from the opening whistle in Friday’s 2–1 loss to Spain. It felt like only a matter of time before the Spanish powerhouse found the back of the net. Mikel Merino played the hero once again, scoring an 88th minute toe-poke off the bench to avoid extra time and send the Belgians packing.

Much like Belgium, Norway came into the quarterfinals as the underdogs with a point to prove. The Vikings even bagged the game’s opening goal in the 36th minute, but could not withstand increasing pressure from England. Another magnificent brace from Jude Bellingham was enough to dash Norway’s World Cup dreams.

What made the extra time 2–1 defeat even worse was that Ståle Solbakken’s men thought they scored the go-ahead goal in the second half, but a VAR review disallowed the goal for a foul Erling Haaland committed just seconds before a corner kick, sticking true to the new rules introduced for this summer’s tournament.

Switzerland gave Argentina an almighty test once again. However, a stunning goal from Julián Alvarez, and a hotly controversial red card, downed Murat Yakin’s disciplined outfit.

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Semifinals

Ousmane Dembélé bowed out in the World Cup semifinals. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

• France
• England

“We are aware of the great potential the opponent in front of us has,” Spain boss Luis de la Fuente admitted ahead of the clash with France, “but are also aware that the only team that has beaten them in the last two semifinals they’ve played has been us.” History repeated itself in the semifinals of the World Cup, as France was convincingly beaten 2–0 in Dallas.

For all the abundant flair of Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola, Désiré Doué and Rayan Cherki—who all featured at some point against Spain—France managed a pitiful three shots on target and a combined xG of 0.3.

England did get on the scoresheet against Argentina but took the unorthodox approach of not trying to shoot thereafter. Across the 20 minutes between Thomas Tuchel’s defensive reshuffle and Lautaro Martínez’s winner, the Three Lions completed had one blocked effort on goal and completed six passes.

“We nailed the gameplan pretty well,” England center back Dan Burn insisted, refering exclusively to those goalless opening 55 minutes. “To go 1–0 up... then we got too passive, conceded too many crosses and too many chances.

“When you’re playing a team of that quality, it is going to cost you. This will haunt me for a long time, I think.” He won’t be the only one.

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