The 48 entrant teams have now been whittled down to two and while there were upsets and surprises along the way — Germany crashing out, and Cape Verde making it past the group games spring to mind — the final comes down to a clash between the holders, Argentina, and reigning European champions Spain.

Curiously the teams they beat to attain those titles, France and England, were the very same sides which were runners up in the semis. Spain overcame France 2-0 on Tuesday, while on Wednesday night English dreams were dashed once again — and Scottish ones fulfilled — as a 1-0 lead with just minutes to go in regular time turned into a 2-0 defeat.

While the tournament's location has meant games starting as late, or as early, as 4 a.m. Estonian time in some cases, the remaining two matches kick off at the more sociable hours of midnight on Saturday and 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Background:

The quadrennial tournament has been held in the U.S. for the second time ever, June 11 to July 19, with matches jointly being hosted in Mexico, which has hosted the tournament twice before, and Canada.

Ahead of this setup the number of teams taking part was boosted to 48, up from 32 in the past, and across 12 groups, A to L, making for a larger number of games.

ERR has had the rights to around a third of the 104 matches, with kickoff times ranging from 7 p.m. Estonian time for the east coast games, to as late as midnight with some of the west coast matches. We are now into semifinals stage, and all the remaining games kick off at the more sociable time of 10 p.m., save for Saturday's third-fourth place playoff, which starts at midnight.

ETV, ETV2 and ETV+ (Russian language) channels are all carrying games, along with ERR's Sport portal and the Jupiter streaming channel.

The group games ran June 11-27, and the knockout rounds immediately followed from June 28, culminating in the final at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19.

The full schedule of the action is below (concluded matches in Italics with scores), with day, date, coverage start time, ERR channel and teams playing where known:

Group games:

Thursday, June 11

9.35 p.m., ETV: Mexico 2 - South Africa 0 (Group A)

Friday, June 12

9.35 p.m., ETV: Canada 1 - Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 (Group B)

Saturday, June 13

9.50 p.m., ETV: Qatar 1 - Switzerland 1 (Group B)

Sunday, June 14

7.50 p.m, ETV2: Germany 7 - Curaçao 1 (Group E)

Monday, June 15

6.50 p.m. ETV2: Spain 0 - Cape Verde 0 (Group H)

Tuesday, June 16

9.50 p.m. ETV: France 3 - Senegal 1 (Group I)

Wednesday, June 17

7.50 p.m. ETV2: Portugal 1 - Congo 1 (Group K)

Thursday, June 18

6.50 p.m. ETV2: Czech Republic 1 - South Africa 1 (Group A)

Friday, June 19

9.50 p.m. ETV: U.S.A. 2 - Australia 0 (Group D)

Saturday, June 20

7.50 p.m. ETV2: Netherlands 5 - Sweden 1 (Group F)

Sunday, June 21

6.50 p.m. ETV2: Spain 4 - Saudi Arabia 0 (Group H)

Monday, June 22

7.50 p.m. ETV2: Argentina 2 - Austria 0 (Group J)

Tuesday, June 23 (Victory Day in Estonia)

7.50 p.m. ETV: Portugal 5 - Uzbekistan 0 (Group K)

Wednesday, June 24 (Midsummer's Day)

9.50 p.m., ETV: Switzerland 2 - Canada 1 (Group B)

Thursday, June 25

10.50 p.m., ETV: Curaçao 0 - Ivory Coast 2 (Group E)

Friday, June 26

9.50 p.m. ETV: Norway 1 - France 4 (Group I)

Saturday, June 27

11.50 p.m. ETV: Panama 0 - England 2 (Group L)

Knockout stages:

Sunday, June 28

9.50 p.m. ETV: South Africa 0 - Canada 1 (Round of 32)

Monday, June 29

7.50 p.m ETV2: Brazil 2 - Japan 1 (Round of 32)

Tuesday, June 30

7.50 p.m. ETV2: Ivory Coast 1 - Norway 2 (Round of 32)

Wednesday, July 1

6.50 p.m. ETV2: England 2 - DR Congo 1 (Round of 32)

Thursday, July 2

9.50 p.m. ETV: Spain 3 Austria 0 (Round of 32)

Friday, July 3

8.50 p.m. ETV+ (Russian language) and 9.25 p.m. ETV (Estonian language): Australia 1 Egypt 1: Egypt wins on penalties (4-2) (Round of 32)

Saturday, July 4

7.50 p.m..ETV2: Canada 3 Morocco 0 (Round of 16)

Sunday, July 5

10.50 p.m. ETV: Brazil 1 Norway 2 (Round of 16)

Monday, July 6

9.50 p.m. ETV: Portugal 0 Spain 1(Round of 16)

Tuesday, July 7

6.50 p.m. ETV2: Argentina 3 Egypt 2 (Round of 16)

Friday, July 10

9.50 p.m. ETV: Spain 2 Belgium 1 (Quarter finals)

Saturday, July 11

11.45 p.m. ETV: Norway 1 England 2 (Quarter finals)

Tuesday, July 14

9.40 p.m. ETV: France 0 Spain 2 (Semifinals)

Wednesday, July 15

9.40 p.m. ETV: England 1 Argentina 2 (Semifinals)

Still to come...

Saturday, July 18

11.50 p.m. ETV: France v England (3rd / 4th-place playoff)

Sunday, July 19

9.30 p.m. ETV: Spain v Argentina (FINAL)

Please note all match commentary is in Estonian, save for games carried by ETV+, which will have Russian-language commentary.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd edition of the tournament. Matches will be played in 16 host cities: 11 in the U.S., 3 in Mexico, and 2 in Canada. This is the first World Cup to be hosted by three countries, and the first to be co-hosted by multiple nations since Japan and South Korea did so in 2002.

While Canada is making its debut in hosting the football World Cup, the U.S. is hosting its second tournament, having done so back in 1994, while for Mexico, this is the third time – the country hosted the World Cup in 1970 and in 1986.

The new format features 12 groups of 4 teams, a 104-match schedule, a new Round of 32, and a tournament length of 39 days, while each team still plays three group-stage matches.

Host nations Canada, Mexico, and the United States automatically qualified, while Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan are making their debuts.

Argentina are defending champions, having won in Qatar in 2022 in a tournament held in winter.

The official event site is here.

Editor's note: This piece has been updated with the results up to the final.

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