Rules
How the World Cup Pool 2026 works — picks, scoring, prize pool, and tie-breakers.
How to play
- Rank your top 24 teams in the order you predict they'll finish the tournament.
- Teams you don't rank score 0 points for you, no matter how they perform.
- You can edit your picks as often as you like until the deadline. After that, your picks are locked in for the rest of the tournament.
- Before the picks lock, your ranking is private. Once locked, everyone's picks become public.
Scoring
Each pick earns points equal to the team's tournament points multiplied by a position weight:
points = team_tournament_points × (25 − your_rank)- Tournament points follow FIFA's standard: 3 per win, 1 per draw, 0 per loss, summed across the group stage and every knockout round.
- The position weight means picking the eventual champion at #1 is worth 24× picking the same team at #24.
- Your total score is the sum of points across all your ranked picks.
Tie-breakers
If two players finish on the same total score, individual-award picks decide the tie. Pick the winner of each:
- Golden Ball — best player of the tournament
- Golden Boot — top goalscorer
- Golden Glove — best goalkeeper
You set these on the Tie-breakers page, and they lock at the same time as your picks.
Entry fee & prize pool
The entry fee is $20. Every entry goes straight into the prize pool, which is paid out to the top three finishers (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).
The exact split between 1st / 2nd / 3rd will be announced once the tournament kicks off, when the final pool size is known.
Send your entry by Interac e-Transfer to steve@oliveira.io . Once your payment is received, you're locked in for the season.
Deadline
Picks lock at 2026-06-10 21:00 UTC. Get your ranking and tie-breakers in before then — after that, no edits.
Questions?
Reply to any email from the pool, or reach out directly at steve@oliveira.io .