Will England finally bring it home? Can Argentina defend their crown? Will France and Spain challenge once again? Or could one of the host nations pull off a surprise? Put your football knowledge to the test with ESPN's free World Cup 2026 predictor games and forecast every twist and turn of the tournament.
ESPN has launched two games ahead of this summer's World Cup: the Group Stage Challenge and the Knockout Bracket Challenge.
Both are free to play and offer the chance to compete against fans around the world, prove your football expertise and win cash prizes.
- Play ESPN's Group Stage Challenge
- Play ESPN's Knockout Bracket Challenge
The rules are simple. The Group Stage Challenge puts you in charge of predicting how the opening phase of the tournament will unfold. Simply drag and drop teams into the positions you think they'll finish in across all 12 groups, ranking every nation from first to fourth.
Once you've set your group standings, you'll need to select the eight third-place teams you believe will join the 24 automatic qualifiers in the knockout rounds.
Points are awarded for every correct finishing position, with bonus points available for correctly predicting which third-place teams advance and for achieving a Perfect Group by getting all four teams in the exact right order.
You can edit your picks at any time until the tournament kicks off on June 11.
Once the group stage concludes on June 27 -- or in the early hours of June 28 for fans in the UK and Ireland -- attention turns to the Knockout Bracket Challenge.
You can create up to 25 knockout brackets, giving yourself multiple paths to World Cup glory. While brackets can be set up in advance, you'll need to fill them out following the end of the group stage.
The knockout bracket locks at kick-off of the first round of 32 match on June 28, so make sure your predictions are locked in before the action begins.
Want to make things more competitive? Create a private group for friends and family, or join a public group and see how your predictions stack up against fellow football fans throughout the tournament.
Then sit back and follow every result, upset and dramatic penalty shootout as your predictions rise -- or fall -- on the road to the World Cup final.