World Cup 2026 Quarterfinals Set: Full Bracket, Schedule and Results as France Faces Morocco Thursday

The 2026 World Cup's quarterfinal round is officially underway, with all four matchups now confirmed following a dramatic conclusion to the Round of 16, and the tournament's first quarterfinal, France against Morocco, kicking off Thursday at Boston Stadium.

The Round of 16 wrapped up Tuesday with two thrillers that produced the field's final two quarterfinalists. Defending champion Argentina overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat Egypt 3-2 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, scoring three unanswered goals from the 79th minute onward. Cristian Romero pulled Argentina back into the match, Lionel Messi equalized to extend his own World Cup scoring record, and Enzo Fernandez completed the comeback with a header in the 92nd minute, sending Argentina through to the quarterfinals despite Egypt having taken a 2-0 lead earlier in the match.

The same evening in Vancouver, Switzerland outlasted Colombia in a penalty shootout after 120 scoreless minutes at BC Place. Colombia had the better of the underlying chances, finishing with a superior expected-goals total of 1.03 to 0.35 and hitting the crossbar in extra time, but Switzerland converted four of five attempts in the shootout, with Ruben Vargas striking the decisive penalty for a 4-3 shootout win. The result marked more penalty heartbreak for Colombia, which was also eliminated on penalties by England in the Round of 16 back in 2018.

With those two results finalized, the tournament's complete quarterfinal bracket is now set:

Morocco vs. France — Thursday, July 9, Boston Stadium, 4 p.m. ET

Spain vs. Belgium — Friday, July 10, Los Angeles Stadium

Argentina vs. Switzerland — Saturday, July 11, Kansas City

Norway vs. England — Saturday, July 11, Miami

Thursday's opening quarterfinal pits France, one of the tournament's clear favorites, against Morocco, the last remaining African team in the competition. France enters unbeaten through six matches and has scored 17 goals along the way, capped by a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the Round of 16 on a Kylian Mbappe penalty. Morocco reached this stage by eliminating co-host Canada 3-0 in the Round of 32, extending the Atlas Lions' bid to build on their historic run to the semifinals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, still the best finish in the country's history.

Thursday's meeting marks the seventh all-time encounter between the two nations and the second at this stage of a World Cup specifically. France holds a 4-1 edge in the head-to-head series, with the most significant and recent meeting coming in the semifinals of the 2022 tournament, a match France won 2-0 en route to the final. Ahead of Thursday's rematch, France head coach Didier Deschamps downplayed the appointment of Argentine officials to oversee the match, dismissing any suggestion that the officiating assignment carried added significance for the contest. Morocco, meanwhile, is expected to be without star forward Ismael Saibari, who has been managing a hamstring issue heading into the quarterfinal.

Friday's quarterfinal in Los Angeles pits Spain against Belgium, a matchup that follows two contrasting Round of 16 results. Spain advanced with a dramatic, stoppage-time 1-0 win over Portugal, a result that also marked the conclusion of Cristiano Ronaldo's storied World Cup career, as the 41-year-old had confirmed before the match that it would be his final tournament appearance. Belgium reached the quarterfinals with a commanding 4-1 win over co-host United States, a result that ended the Americans' tournament in the Round of 16 for a fourth consecutive World Cup and came despite a late controversy surrounding forward Folarin Balogun's overturned red card suspension. The U.S. exit was compounded further this week by news that forward Christian Pulisic sustained a bone bruise and microfracture in his lower leg during the tournament, an injury that will sideline the AC Milan attacker for several weeks.

Saturday's two remaining quarterfinals will be played simultaneously in different cities. In Kansas City, defending champion Argentina faces Switzerland, with Lionel Messi looking to continue what is widely expected to be his final World Cup campaign following Tuesday's dramatic comeback win over Egypt. In Miami, Norway takes on England in a matchup pairing two of the tournament's most dangerous attacking players, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, both of whom sit near the top of this year's Golden Boot standings alongside Messi and Mbappe. Norway advanced to this stage with a stunning 2-1 upset over five-time champion Brazil in the Round of 16, while England survived a chaotic 3-2 win over co-host Mexico that featured two red cards and two penalties.

With the quarterfinal bracket now fully set, the tournament's path to the final has become considerably clearer. The winners of the Morocco-France and Spain-Belgium quarterfinals will meet in one semifinal, while the winners of the Argentina-Switzerland and Norway-England quarterfinals will meet in the other, setting up the eventual matchup for the championship match later this month.

This year's tournament remains the first World Cup jointly hosted by three nations, the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the first to feature an expanded 48-team format, producing a total of 104 matches across 16 host cities. With all three co-host nations now eliminated from the competition, following Canada's loss to Morocco, Mexico's defeat to England, and the United States' elimination by Belgium, the remainder of the tournament will be contested entirely among non-host nations for the first time since the knockout rounds began.

The semifinal round is scheduled to follow the conclusion of the quarterfinals later this month, with the tournament's final set for July 19. As Thursday's opening quarterfinal kicks off in Boston, attention across the sport now turns to whether France's dominant tournament form will continue against a Morocco side that has already proven capable of producing historic upsets against elite European opposition, setting the tone for what promises to be a closely contested final stretch of matches before the World Cup crowns its eventual champion later this month.