🥇 A Comprehensive Guide to World Cup Betting 2026

How To Get Started

The first item on your to-do list should be to open an account with a respected bookmaker. In fact, it is better to sign up for several of them. For starters, you are likely to receive sign-up bonuses and promotions from each of them. And when it comes to placing a bet, you can compare and contrast to ensure you are getting the best possible price.

Sports betting is our forte here at Irishluck, and we have spent time and effort on picking out some recommended sportsbooks so you do not have to. At the top of this page, you will find the best bookmakers for your World Cup betting needs. You cannot really go wrong no matter which ones you pick, and the good news is you will be able to use the same sportsbooks to bet on other events too. That could be the Premier League, La Liga or the Champions League if you are all-in on football, or it could be other sports like golf, rugby, horse racing or hurling. Once you have signed up, simply deposit some money into your account and you are ready to start betting!

World Cup Top Teams

History of the World Cup

It was founded in 1904, but it took another 26 years before the World Cup came into being. The biggest international forum for football before the inaugural edition in 1930 was the Summer Olympics. The success of the Olympic competitions compelled the organisation to launch its own world football tournament, and 13 teams made the journey to Uruguay to compete in 1930. The host nation triumphed over Argentina in the final in Montevideo, building on their victories in the Summer Olympics of 1924 and 1928.

Most Successful Sides

There have been 22 editions of the men’s World Cup to date. A total of eight countries have won the World Cup so far and Brazil is the most successful nation in the history of the tournament with five wins (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), followed by Italy (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006) and Germany (1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014) who have four wins apiece. Argentina are the reigning champions and have three wins (1978, 1986 and 2022), ahead of France (1998 and 2018) and Uruguay (1930 and 1950) on two victories each. Lastly, Spain (2010) and England (1966) have one win apiece. 

Other World Cup Participants

The restructuring of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams has provoked several changes and a number of firsts. For the first time since 2002 and just the second time ever, the games will be hosted by more than one country, and for the first time it will be hosted by three nations. 

One of the host nations is Mexico, which holds the record for the most World Cup appearances without a win, having appeared 17 times after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The other non-victorious sides to have featured in 10 or more editions of the tournament are Belgium (14), Serbia/Yugoslavia (13), Sweden (12), Switzerland (12), Russia/Soviet Union (11), Netherlands (11), United States (11) and South Korea (11). 

Uzbekistan, Curaçao (the smallest team in terms of both size and population to ever qualify), Jordan and Cape Verde are all making their World Cup debut, with the potential for other debuts depending on who is successful in the play-offs in March 2026. 

The first African participants were Egypt in 1934, while the first Asian representatives were Indonesia (then known as the Dutch East Indies) in 1938. Oceania debuted with Australia in 1974, but New Zealand has taken up the mantle as the OFC's representative for the 2026 World Cup. 

Biggest World Cup Upsets in Recent History

Since 2010, the last four World Cups have delivered some truly huge shocks, even for tournament trophies eventually lifted by heavyweights like Spain (2010) and Argentina (2022). These results not only upheaved the group tables in some cases, but also shook up the bookmakers’ markets, producing some of the most significant price upsets of the modern World Cup era.

Here are some certified head-scratchers, alongside the pre-match odds from the bookies at that time: 

Read our detailed article where we ranked the top 5 betting upsets in all WC editions so far.

World Cup Qualification Process

This World Cup will be the first tournament in which all six confederations have at least one assured slot. While football’s governing body determines how many World Cup places are available for each region, the confederations are responsible for organising their own qualification processes, with these cycles beginning back in September 2023. You can find details about each process below:

• Hosts (3 slots): The USA, Mexico and Canada automatically qualified as hosts.

• CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean, 3 slots excluding the three hosts): In the first round, the four teams ranked 29-32 faced off to join teams ranked 1-28 in round two. The 30 teams were then drawn into six groups of five and played single round-robin matches (two home, two away). The winners and runners up were then drawn into three groups of four teams for the third round, with the three group winners qualifying for the World Cup and the two best-ranked runners-up progressing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

• CONMEBOL (South America, 6 slots): CONMEBOL keeps it simple. All members play home-and-away round-robin matches against one another, with the top six moving onto the World Cup and seventh place advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

• AFC (Asia, 8 slots): Twenty teams (ranked 27-46) played a two-legged tie for ten spots to advance into the second round. There they joined teams ranked 1-26 and were divided into nine groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches.

The eighteen advancing teams played home-and-away round-robin matches in three groups of six teams, with the top two in each group qualifying for the World Cup. The remaining teams were drawn into a fourth round, consisting of two groups of three teams playing a single round-robin. The winners of both groups qualified for the World Cup, with the runners-up competing in a two-legged play-off tie to enter the intercontinental play-offs.

• OFC (Oceania, 1 slot): The four lowest-ranked teams played a knockout round. The seven highest-ranked teams and the winner of the knockout were split into two groups of four. The top two of these then played a three-match knockout round, with the winner heading straight to the cup and the runner-up progressing to the inter-confederation play-offs.

• CAF (Africa, 9 slots): All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations entered the two stage qualification process. In round one, nine six-team groups faced each other in home-and-away round-robin matches, with the winners qualifying for the World Cup. In the second and final round, the CAF held a play-off for the four best-ranked group runners-up for a single spot at the intercontinental play-offs.

• UEFA (Europe, 16 slots): The group stage consisted of 12 groups of either four or five teams, with the winners qualifying for the World Cup. The twelve group runners-up and the four best Nations League group winners who finished outside the top two of their qualifying group were drawn into four play-off paths. In March 2026 there will be two rounds of single-match play-offs to determine who grabs the remaining four places.

• Intercontinental play-offs (2 slots): Six teams (one each from CONCACAF, AFC, CAF and OFC, as well as two from CONCACAF) will be placed into categories - two ‘seeded’ and four ‘unseeded’ teams. The unseeded teams will compete in two one-leg knockout semi-finals. The semi-final winners will play the two seeded teams, with the subsequent winners securing the final two spots in the 2026 World Cup.

World Cup Best Players

Best Current Players

The World Cup stage provides the ultimate platform for the most sensational players of our time. From established legends to new prodigies, there will be an abundance of talent to indulge in next summer.

Spain, the reigning European champions, have the services of teenage sensation Lamine Yamal in their attack. The 18-year-old has already proved to be a force to be reckoned with, scoring against Norway and twice against France in the Nations League. Meanwhile the Norwegians boast a certain Erling Haaland, widely considered the best striker in the world. After scoring 16 goals in just eight qualifying matches, it will be fascinating to see how he performs on the world stage.

Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are both in the twilight of their professional football careers, but we haven’t seen the last of them just yet. Messi finally won the World Cup in Qatar 2022 and his impressive performances for Inter Miami of late - including at the 2025 Club World Cup in the USA - have led to talks of pushing back his retirement. He’s signed a new contract that will keep him in the MLS until 2028. Meanwhile, Ronaldo has won pretty much everything there is to win in professional football and is chasing the unprecedented feat of 1,000 career goals. The one gap in his resume is the World Cup and he’ll be desperate to match his rival Messi. 

Brazil’s new coach Carlo Ancelotti has big plans for Vinicius Junior, who narrowly missed out on the 2025 Ballon d’Or. He has established himself as one of the best in the world with his performances at Real Madrid and is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Other stars you should look out for include Harry Kane, who has spearheaded England’s attack so brilliantly over the last decade, while compatriot Jude Bellingham is another world-class talent. Kylian Mbappé may have been a runner-up in the last World Cup Final, but his performance to hit a hat-trick that day will go down in history as one of the great final performances and he will be keen to go one better this time around. 

Germany have been knocked out of the group stages in each of the last two tournaments and they will be relying on Florian Wirtz, one of the most expensive players in the world, to turn their fortunes around. Achraf Hakimi, who was central to Morocco's run to the 2022 semi-finals, the ‘Egyptian King’ Mohamed Salah and South Korea’s two-footed captain Son Heung-Min will also be gracing the World Cup stage.

Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, Sweden’s Alexander Isak and Christian Eriksen from Denmark are some of top-notch players whose appearance hinges on the results of the play-offs in March.

Best Historical Players

The most successful player in the history of the World Cup is Pele, the only footballer to have won the World Cup three times. The Brazilian legend was part of the winning squad in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Diego Maradona inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986. The forward scored the greatest goal the tournament has ever seen as Argentina beat England in the quarter-finals that summer.

Other historical World Cup stars include Johan Cruyff (the Netherlands), Bobby Charlton (England), Paolo Rossi (Italy), Jose Nasazzi (Uruguay), Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), Didi, Garrincha, Romario, Ronaldo (all Brazil) and Zinedine Zidane (France).

Betting on World Cup Players

Match Betting

When we think of football betting, we usually focus on teams - who will win, how many goals they will score, whether both teams will find the net. But there are plenty of markets that focus on individual players - and there is usually value to be found in this area. The most common way to bet on a player is in the goalscorer market, where bookmakers offer the opportunity to place a wager on which player will score the first or last goal. You can also back a player to score anytime.

For big matches in particular, bettors can put money on a player receiving a card, a player scoring a hat-trick, a player registering an assist and various other in-game events. Player bets can be combined with team bets. A popular example is predicting a goalscorer and a result - Estêvão to score and Brazil to win, for example.

Player Outrights

We explore team outright markets earlier in this guide. The same principle applies to player outrights - bets which are placed on an eventual outcome of a particular competition. The most obvious player outright bet relates to the Golden Boot, the award given to the player who scores the most goals at the World Cup. In 2018, Harry Kane won this prize after scoring six goals as England finished fourth.

Some sportsbooks will offer punters the chance to put money on an individual to be named Player of the Tournament or Young Player of the Tournament. There might even be an option to bet on who will finish the World Cup with the most assists.