What to watch, and when.
Every match of the group stage, in order — kickoff, where to find it, and a quick read on the game. All kickoffs in US Eastern (ET).
The whole tournament begins here, and for Mexico the opponent is only half the story. South Africa came to make the night long and quiet; Aguirre's real task is to keep a half-renewed side calm while a country that has not reached a quarter-final since 1986 holds its breath.
Korea and Czechia open Group A in the thin air of Guadalajara — two reactive teams that each prefer the other to have it. With Mexico waiting in both their futures, the side forced to come out and break the other down faces the harder night.
Canada open their home World Cup at BMO Field with the best squad the country has ever produced and a hunger for the one thing it has never owned: a World Cup point. Bosnia arrive at only their second finals as the cool, weathered opposite — old heads and a forty-year-old captain on a last adventure, here to make the host wait.
The United States open their home World Cup in primetime at SoFi with the most talented squad the country has assembled — and the one problem it has never solved, laid bare again in a 2-1 send-off defeat to Germany: how to break down a side that will not come out. Paraguay are built to be exactly that side, even if they may have to do it without Julio Enciso, the creator who might have hurt the United States at the other end.
Türkiye return to a World Cup after twenty-four years with the most gifted young side they have produced in a generation — and run straight into the kind of opponent that gives flair the least room to breathe. Tony Popovic's Australia are built to make the night a fight, and the favourites arrive with their playmaker short of full fitness and their whole attacking philosophy suddenly up for argument.
The group's clear favourites against a side built to slow the night to its own pace — and a Swiss habit, on show twice this month, that Qatar are designed to punish.
The pick of Saturday's openers — two top-seven sides meeting with the charge of a knockout tie, each in the middle of reinventing who it is. Brazil are being taught to win without the ball; Morocco to win with it; and both arrive with the same soft ground behind a high line.
While Brazil and Morocco settle the top of Group C, the group's other opener decides almost everything for the two sides chasing them. Scotland are back at a World Cup after twenty-eight years, Haiti after fifty-two — two hard, deep-sitting counter-punchers who each know that whoever loses this is, in all likelihood, already going home.
A four-time champion arrives in Houston still hearing the echoes of Russia and Qatar, needing not just a win but a performance to convince itself it is serious again — and across the halfway line stands the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup, a Dutch-Caribbean side under the oldest manager the competition has known.
Two near-equals meet in Group F, and the strange truth is that the favourite carries the fear. The Netherlands have the heavier reputation and the older wound; Japan, the side that beat Germany and Spain, believe in themselves more openly than the team they are supposed to be chasing.
Ivory Coast are African champions remade for speed; Ecuador are as hard to score against as anyone in the field. Both are at their most dangerous when a match comes apart - which is exactly why someone in Philadelphia is going to have to do the thing neither side enjoys, and pick up the ball.
Few sides at this tournament can name a front pair to rival Gyokeres and Isak. The question that has followed Sweden across the spring is quieter and harder: who, in a midfield stripped of its one true creator, actually feeds them. Tunisia have built their whole evening around making sure nobody does.
The European champions open a World Cup the way a wealthy man opens his wardrobe, weighing not whether he has enough but which of two prized things he can bear to leave behind. Cape Verde have come to Atlanta with two clean wins behind them and a single demand: to be read as a football team, not a fable.
Belgium have rebuilt themselves around the last embers of De Bruyne; Egypt have carried Salah to one more World Cup that is almost certainly his last. Seattle is where two great careers, both edging toward dusk, find out whose final act gets a second chapter.
Bielsa's Uruguay press the way few sides in this tournament dare to, man for man and high up the pitch, hunting the ball before an opponent can breathe. The question in Miami is not whether Saudi Arabia are good enough to win it. It is whether their remade back line can pass its way out of the chaos a Bielsa team manufactures on purpose.
It looks like the quiet fixture of Group G, and underneath it is the same story told twice. Iran lean everything on Taremi and New Zealand lean everything on Wood, two centre-forwards asked to win matches by themselves. The difference is the freight: Iran arrive with a whole nation's noise behind their man, New Zealand with a meme and a song.
Austria return to the World Cup after twenty-eight years with a pressing identity they can finally name, but without Baumgartner, the man who turned that pressure into goals. Jordan arrive for the first time in their history, and they have not come to make up the numbers.
Draw it up however you like — Group I has put its two heavyweights together at the opening whistle. France carry the world's top ranking and a forward line without equal; Senegal carry an African title and the scar of 2002. This is not a favourite testing an outsider. It is two contenders measuring each other before the tournament has caught its breath.
Norway come back to the World Cup for the first time since 1998, with the most coveted forward on earth and the captain who feeds him. Iraq, forty years away themselves, did not travel to admire them. Graham Arnold's side came to make sure the ball never reaches Haaland clean.
Argentina are the only holders in this entire tournament, and the defence of the trophy begins in Kansas City on a night heavy with more than three points. This is, by the captain's own reckoning, very likely the last World Cup of Lionel Messi, which lends the opener a gravity no other first match carries. Across from them stand Algeria, back after twelve years in the cold and in no mood to be a footnote.
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
Panama clear favourites
The altitude adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
Czechia clear favourites
Switzerland clear favourites
Canada clear favourites
The altitude adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
Türkiye the side the edge leans to
Two of the tournament's heavyweights — United States and Australia should trade blows.
Morocco the side the edge leans to
A historic rematch of the 2004 'Peace Match' in Port-au-Prince, where Brazil visited Haiti for a friendly that transcended sport.
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
Germany clear favourites
Ecuador strong favourites
Spain strong favourites
Belgium narrow favourites
Uruguay clear favourites
Egypt narrow favourites
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
France clear favourites
Looks a coin-flip
Algeria the side the edge leans to
The heat adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
England strong favourites
Croatia narrow favourites
The altitude adds a twist on top of a tight match-up.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
A debutant tournament for both nations collides in Seattle, where Bosnia's penalty-forged belief and a 40-year-old talisman run into Qatar's pride-on-merit, win-or-go-home finale.
A rematch of their iconic 1998 World Cup opening match in Saint-Denis, where a late Tom Boyd own goal gave Brazil a tight 2-1 win.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
The Group H decider in the thin Guadalajara air pits Marcelo Bielsa's farewell, man-to-man Uruguay against a Spain side that travels with zero Real Madrid players and the most modern attack in the tournament.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Colombia and Portugal close Group K as near-twins — same shape, same midfield obsession, same flying winger — and the table position nobody wants to concede goes to whoever's softer screen cracks first.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
Final group games kicking off together — places in the Round of 32 on the line.
The group stage runs to 27 June. Once the tables settle, the Round of 32 begins 28 June — see the road to the Round of 32.