World Cup predictions & betting tips

The eyes of the sporting world are focused on North America for the biggest footballing festival as the best players on the planet converge in USA, Canada and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup.

With 48 nations, 104 matches, 16 venues and three host countries spread over thousands of miles, this year’s edition is the biggest, brashest, and most brazen World Cup yet.

The tournament began in Mexico City on June 11 and will end with the final in New Jersey on July 19. All 48 teams arrived with dreams of breaking new ground, while only a select few come with realistic ambitions of joining a 96-year-old roll of honour that contains just eight different names.

Argentina are the defending champions following their unforgettable triumph over France in the 2022 final in Qatar, but Brazil, France, England and Spain – among others – are bidding to dethrone La Albiceleste and gain another star on their shirt, while some teams are hoping for their first.

Our football betting tips today page will also provide in-depth previews for every single World Cup match, as well as any other major games taking place around the world.

World Cup 2026 outright betting tips

The biggest football tournament in the world inevitably draws unrivalled betting interest across a smorgasbord of available markets, perhaps the most popular of which are the outright markets for winner, top scorer and group winners.

Read on to find out our tips for all of those and more.

Top goalscorer: Erling Haaland @ 20/1

The Manchester City forward completely dominated the European qualifiers, leading Norway to a perfect record and top spot in a group that also contained Italy.

On their way to the World Cup, Norway scored a staggering 37 goals in eight matches, with Haaland responsible for a whopping 16 of those.

To put it into context, that’s twice as many as the next top scorers in the European qualifiers – Harry Kane, Memphis Depay and Marko Arnautovic.

At the moment, Haaland has five goals at the 2026 World Cup, one behind Lionel Messi and Kylan Mbappe. He’s also tied with Harry Kane.

The main reason why the odds on Haaland are so high is the likelihood of Norway ending the competition sooner than his rivals. However, if you believe that Norway can go far enough, then betting on Haaland to win the Golden Boot has a lot of upside.

World Cup 2026 winner: Spain @ 6/1

Spain have been one of the dominant forces in football the last couple of decades, in which they’ve won their first-ever World Cup title and three European Championships, including the 2024 crown.

They have amazingly not made it past the last 16 since lifting the trophy, but this is a new, young Spanish generation with one of the best players in the world, Lamine Yamal, who led Spain to European title in 2024 as a 17-year-old.

The one and only time Spain reached the World Cup final was in 2010, when Andres Iniesta’s famous goal won them the trophy to highlight a period of dominance that saw them win Euro 2008 and Euro 2012 either side of it too.

One word of warning comes from the poor record of European teams when the tournament is held in the Americas, but Germany broke that hoodoo in Brazil 12 years ago, and this Spanish side is talented enough to buck the trend again.

So far, the Spanish national team perhaps showed the most at the 2026 World Cup, next to France, so they surely deserve to be backed as potential winners.

World Cup past winners

The 1942 and 1946 tournaments were not held due to the Second World War. The 1950 tournament used a final round-robin rather than a knockout final.

Argentina’s third title in Qatar, which was secured on penalties after a pulsating 3-3 draw with France, is the most recent addition to a list that began with Uruguay winning the first edition in 1930.

No host nation has won the tournament since France in 1998 – a run of seven consecutive editions – and it would take a mighty upset for that to end this summer, despite a record three host nations having the opportunity.

Italy and Brazil are the only nations to have won back-to-back World Cups, with Italy doing so in 1934 and 1938 and Brazil following in 1958 and 1962. Argentina and Lionel Messi will therefore be looking to achieve something that has not been done for 64 years.

Which teams have won the World Cup?

Only eight teams have ever got their hands on the most sought-after prize in world football, and just six have done so on multiple occasions.

Brazil’s five titles are the most in the history of the competition, yet they have not lifted the trophy since 2002.

Germany and Italy are level on four titles each, though Italy will not be present at the 2026 tournament – they have now missed three consecutive editions (2018, 2022 and 2026), the first former World Cup winner to suffer that grim distinction.

No country from outside Europe or South America has ever won, or even reached, a World Cup final before.

last update: July 2026