WORLD CUP 2026

New for 2026: Two separate pathways to the final. England, Portugal, Spain and France are all in Pathway 2 (Groups G–L), and Brazil sit in the entirely separate Pathway 1 (Groups A–F) — so Brazil can't meet any of the other four before the final itself. Within Pathway 2, England and Portugal are paired directly if both finish 2nd in their group (Round of 32) — but England/Portugal vs Spain and France are kept apart for longer, with Spain reachable at the Round of 16 at the earliest and France not until the Semi-Final.

🤖 What actually is offside? (an AI's attempt at a plain-English explainer)

Imagine the last defender (not counting the goalkeeper) draws an invisible line across the pitch, running side to side, level with wherever they're standing. An attacking player is offside if, at the exact moment a teammate passes the ball to them, they're standing in front of that line — closer to the opponent's goal than both the ball and the second-last defender — and they're involved in the play (about to receive it, interfering with an opponent, or gaining an advantage from the position).

The trick is the timing: it's only judged at the instant the ball is played, not when it's received. So a player can sprint ahead into an offside position after the pass and still be onside, as long as they weren't ahead of that line when the ball actually left their teammate's foot. Being level with the last defender also counts as onside — the attacker has to be strictly in front, not just level.

It exists to stop attackers simply camping out next to the opposition's goal waiting for a long ball, which would make for fairly dull, end-to-end-less football.