Rules & Scoring

1. Making Your Picks

Filling out the 104-match expanded bracket is done in three main stages:

The Group Stage: Predict the winner (or a tie) for all 72 group stage matches.
The Wildcards: Based on your group stage predictions, the app will generate your standings. The top 2 teams in each group automatically advance. You will then manually select 8 third-place teams to advance as Wildcards.
The Knockout Stage: The app will map your 32 surviving teams into a massive knockout bracket. Pick the winners all the way to the World Cup Champion.

2. The Hybrid Scoring System

Our bracket uses a hybrid scoring system. You earn points in two ways: Positional Points (picking the exact match winner) and Advancement Bonus Points (picking a team to survive, even if they are in the wrong spot on your bracket).

Part A: Positional Points

You earn points for correctly predicting the exact winner of a specific matchup box on the screen:

Round	Points Per Correct Match
Group Stage Matches (72)	1 pt
Round of 32 (16)	2 pts
Round of 16 (8)	4 pts
Quarterfinals (4)	8 pts
Semifinals (2)	16 pts
Tournament Champion (1)	32 pts

Part B: Advancement Bonus Points

Even if a team ends up on the wrong side of the bracket, you still earn bonus points just for having them alive in that specific round on your bracket!

Round Reached	Bonus Points Per Team
Team reaches Round of 32	+1 pt
Team reaches Round of 16	+2 pts
Team reaches Quarterfinals	+4 pts
Team reaches Semifinals	+8 pts
Team reaches Finals	+16 pts

                Dead Teams: If you pick a team to advance to the Semifinals, but they get eliminated in real life during the Round of 16, your Semifinal pick is considered "dead" and your Max Possible Points on the leaderboard will instantly drop.
            

3. Tiebreaker & Deadlines

The Tiebreaker

If two players finish the tournament with the exact same score, the winner will be decided by the Total Goals tiebreaker submitted at the end of the bracket. You must predict the total combined goals scored across ALL 104 MATCHES of the tournament. The player with the closest absolute value wins.

The Lockout

All brackets must be submitted before the first match kicks off on June 11, 2026. Once the countdown timer on the home page hits zero, brackets are permanently locked.