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World Cup 2026 Excel schedule spreadsheet
We are back with the “Excel World Cup 2026 sweepstake” (or Office Pool), which we are re-launching after the 2018 and 2022 editions. This file is your ultimate FIFA World Cup 2026 Excel schedule spreadsheet and score predictor tool..
Since we released the first edition 10 years ago (the Euro Cup 2016 spreadsheet) we have been constantly releasing different Excel templates, both for National Teams (Copa América Excel, Africa Cup Excel,Asia Cup Excel, Gold Cup Excel, Olympic Games Football Excel) and for Club Competitions (Spanish League Excel, Premier League Excel, Champions League Excel, Europa League Excel, Conference League Excel, Libertadores and Sudamericana Excel).
When major international football tournaments arrive, people usually set up the typical office pools at work, in bars, with their groups of friends, or with family. One of the main purposes of this Excel template is to help you manage your group’s sweepstake for the FIFA USA-Canada-Mexico 2026 World Cup. It can also be used as a FIFA World Cup 2026 calculator, Excel World Cup simulator, fixture schedule or printable bracket.
The World Cup draw will take place on December 5, 2025, but the last six teams will not be known until the end of March 2026.
Since 2016 when we published the first file until this year we have improved the use of the excel. For example 4 years ago in case of a draw in a group you had to change a result if you didn’t like the order of the group. Now in case of a draw you can select the order in a group. Another new feature is that you can select the times according to the country you have chosen or you can select your UTC zone, also we’ve added the flags of the countries participating in the group stage.
How does the Excel World Cup 2026 simulator works?
The operation is very simple:
- In the Group Stage, you only need to fill in the grey boxes with the match results you predict. In case of a tie in the group standings between two or more teams, you can manually select the final order of those teams.
- From the Round of 32 onwards, the matchups are set automatically. You must then fill in the grey boxes with the results. If the result you enter is a draw, two more grey boxes will appear next to the score to allow you to resolve the tie (e.g., penalties or extra time scores).
- Finally, you must write down your predictions for the best players and the top goalscorers.
- We have included a video below explaining how the file works.
World Cup 2026 Excel Features
- Enter Results: With this excel file, you can input the scores for all 104 World Cup matches, from the group stage right through to the final.
- Update Standings: The group stage tables automatically adjust according to the results entered for the group matches.
- Tie-Breaker control: At the end of the group stage, in case of a tie between two or more teams on the classification criteria, you can manually decide the final ranking for those tied teams within that group.
- World Cup 2026 simulator: You can simulate all the group stage matches, and the knockout stage matchups (Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and Final) will be set automatically. Complete the knockout results up to the great World Cup 2026 Final.
- Organize or join a World Cup 2026 sweepstake: You can organize a sweepstake/office pool with your friends, colleagues, or family using the participant file and the administrator file. If you are the organizer, you can see instructions on how to set it up here.
- Select time zones: You can select the time zone of the participating countries or the time zone where you are located.
- Bilingual: Choose the language between Spanish and English within the same file, ensuring the language is not a barrier when organizing an international office pool.
- Printable fixture bracket: View the complete FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage and knockout bracket at a glance on the Fixture sheet. The bracket is fully printable — just print the sheet directly from Excel to use it as a wall chart or share it as a PDF. It also features an automatic bar chart showing how far each team progresses based on your predictions.
- Predictor (new): The file includes a separate sheet that allows you to predict which round each national team will reach, independent of the results entered on the main Worldcup sheet. This is a new, optional feature added to this edition for a more complete and fun experience.
World Cup 2026 sweepstake Excel file
This FIFA World Cup 2026 Excel template is also designed to run a World Cup 2026 office pool (also known globally as an sweepstake, score predictor, or world cup worksheet).
It also includes a printable fixture bracket: Fixture sheet lets you view the entire FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament at a glance — and you can print it directly from Excel as a wall chart or PDF
The system consists of two separate files:
- One for the participants of the World Cup 2026 excel sweepstake.
- Another for the administrator, which allows them to input all the participants’ predictions, view the sweepstake standings directly within the same excel spreadsheet, and review each participant’s daily forecasts.
You can download both files below.
Download Excel file World Cup pool 2026
Comments on the Excel World Cup Pool 2026
- Last update: 01/04/2026 After all nations are known.
- This FIFA World Cup 2026 Excel template serves as a fixture schedule spreadsheet, score predictor, and participant file for the USA, Mexico and Canada FIFA World Cup sweepstake. The Fixture and Worldcup sheets are fully printable: print to PDF directly from Excel to use as a wall chart.
- Downloable file contains an .xlsx file. The download is an Excel file and does not contain any macros. All calculations are performed using standard Excel formulas.
- You can find a video below this text demonstrating how the file works. You can select English in audio.
- Although this is a bilingual file where you can select the language (English or Spanish), we have also published a dedicated Spanish version (World Cup Excel).
Additionally, for those of you who want to organize and administer the World Cup 2026 Excel sweepstake or the Club World Cup Excel office pool with your group, you can also use the sweepstake administrator file along with the complete instructions.
Download the ADMINISTRATOR file
Comments to the administrator’s file:
- Last update: 15/04/2026
- There are several versions available depending on the desired number of participants. The version featured in this post includes space for up to 5 players. If you require a version for more than 5 participants, please click the button to access the different options.
- The download package includes the .xlsx Excel file designed to admin a World Cup 2026 sweepstake. This file contains several sheets: a home page, a sheet for entering the actual results of the World Cup, a Office Pool Administration sheet, a sheet for the Overall Standings, a sheet for the Daily Standings, a sheet for Daily Predictions by participants, a Fixture/Bracket sheet (dynamically updated based on participant predictions), and a Sweepstake Statistics sheet (Note: This sheet only functions in Excel 2021 or later).
- Like the participant file, this administrator file is created only using formulas and doesn’t contain any macros.
- Explanation of the scoring system: provides a detailed explanation of how the scoring system works.
- We have created a video tutorial on how the file works (You can select English in audio). This video provides a visual explanation. You can also watch the video at the bottom of this page.
- Frequently Asked Questions when organizing a World Cup 2026 office pool in Excel.
THERE IS NO A BETTER WAY to set the scores, because each one has its pros and cons, so I encourage you to comment on how you are going to put them in your group with a screenshot so that people can see it, and also if you want to comment.
As always, any correction, suggestion, comment you want to make is welcome. You can comment anything related to the World Cup, the rules you use in your group, where you are from, how many people you are, how you make the bets, suggest scores, etc. Thank you very much in advance.
ENJOY!
I am trying to use this for a sweepstakes with friends but when I try copy the selections from participant files onto the admin it says they are a protected sheet and I need a password to unprotect the sheet.
If you copy from name paste values in name cell
What is the value to input in the pool.
For example if I predict Mexico to win then what should I key in so that the points gets tabulated automatically.
You can see de FAQ or Videotutorial
first of all, thanks for the great and fun word cup entertainment.
i ran into some questions/problems:
thank you.
Hi Peter
Here we explain how to organize world cup 2026 pool by stages
Hi there. When entering the results, numbers 1 and 2 in a pool end up tied on points and goal difference, as do numbers 3 and 4. Subsequently, no option appears to select a position in the pool. How is this possible?
Hi Dion,
This happens because it looks at the head-to-head record before considering overall group stats.
If you want, reply with the results you entered and we can look at it step-by-step!
Hi Mat,
In the group all results are predicted to be 1-0.
When they end tied, first criteria is head to head matches. (see yellow results)
Hi there,
I would need a version for about 200 participants. I saw in your comments that this paid version is may be slower than the cost free version. Any recommendations for the admin file regarding computing capacity ?
BR
Christian
Hi Christian,
To keep the file running as quickly as possible with 200 participants, my main recommendation is while you are entering data and copying/pasting values, you can temporarily switch Excel to Mmanual calculation to prevent it from recalculating after every single change. You can find this setting here:
Go to the Formulas tab in the top menu.
Click on Calculation Options.
Select Manual.
Once you have finished inputting all the participant data, just remember to switch it back to automatic so the sheet updates all when you introduce actual results.
Hi there, thank you so much for this excel! How can i update the excel with the scores of the tournament, so that the ranking etc. updates itself? Is there a certain button in the admin file?
Hi Koen,
Thanks for the comment! You just need to input manually the actual results in the “Worldcup” sheet. As you enter them, the ranking will automatically update on its own.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone had good advice or guidance over the point system?
I’ve drafted the one bellow, but I wonder if it’s too unfair or unbalanced
Wow, that are many points. I was thinking about something like this:
I’ve actually used 2 AI sources to get advice and analysis on how to balance it out better with some good suggestions and I’ve updated it to this.
I will be doing a soft reset before the quarter finals to allow people to catch up with the leaders. Since the tournament is so long this year with so many teams qualifying, it’s much harder to predict the knock outs.so I will allow the players to predict the tournament from the quarter finals no matter their previous results.
Key points raised by AI are: trying to keep everyone alive before the reset, moderate the qualifiation bonuses, set exact score to give more point but not like a being a massive game changer, reward player choices over luck.
Oke, that is a possibility. For my pool everyone must fill in all at once, so I do not have any work during the tournament. In your pointsystem you get more points when you predict the exact position for number 4 in the group than when you predict the right number 1? What is the reason for this?
I am testing the sheet just now. Entering predicted scores for entrants Excel changes the scores to a date format eg 2-1 becomes 2-Jan
Hi Phil,
To clarify how the system works: there are actually two different files: the participant file and the admin file.
You just need to copy the predictions from the ‘Pool’ sheet of the participant’s file and paste them as values into the corresponding column in the ‘ADMIN’ sheet of the Admin file.
If you need any further clarification, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Can i get points for just the result in the round 32 -16 -8 etc.
(Not looking if the countries are correct)
now i don’t get any points if the countries are not correct.
i would be more fun if you still can score some points.
maybe the questions for golden boot etc. can be open, so i can me my own questions.
Hi Ron,
You can find the answer to your question about scoring points in the rounds of 32, 16, 8, etc.,here:
Essentially, the points are linked to the specific match predicted. If the teams in the actual bracket don’t match your prediction, that specific match cannot be scored, as the system is designed to reward the accuracy of the full bracket.
Additionally, if you want to award points exactly as you described, one option is to organize the pool in stages. This way, participants can fill out their predictions once the real matchups for each round are confirmed.
Regarding the Golden Boot and other awards, thank you for the feedback! I’ll take it into account for future editions to see if I can make those fields open for custom questions.
HI Ron,
What is your thought about this?
I always gave points tot the correct winner 1 X 2 but in this file it is not possible…
Organise the pool in stages is not workable with 300 people 🙁
Gr Kees
How can you change time zone in protected sheet?
Even if the sheet is protected, you should be able to change the timezone as long as that specific cell is unlocked.
Hi Mat,
Is there a good way to inform people about the ranking and the predictions of the next matches? I like to inform everybody each day what the ranking is and wat the predictions are of the next matches.
Hi Remie,
In the “CLAS”, “Daily Prediction” and “Daily Clas” tabs of the Admin sheet, you can:
Take a screenshot and send it.
Select the cells in those sheets and copy them as an image.
Copy and paste the values from those sheets into a new blank file and send that file to the participants
Looks great! Is it also possible to play the pool without de last six questions (topscorers and best players)?
Hi Henri,
Thanks for your comment.
Yes, It’s possible to play the pool without de last six questions (topscorers and best players). You can simply leave them blank, and in the administrator sheet, you can set those specific scoring criteria to 0 points.
Best regards
Hi Mat, Is it perhaps possible to contact others who are going to use the pool?
To compare with each other how they handle the scoring, for example, and to give each other tips?
HI Mat,
I organise a EK and WK pool since 1998, it is growing from the beginning… 10 people into 308 people last EK edition. I was using the sheet from some dutch people but unfortunately they decided to quit, so i have to find a new pool, your sheet does match my older ones.
But i have a few questions;
I think i have much more questions but i want to see the administrator file first. So far I am very curious and enthusiastic
Hi Kees,
Thank you very much for your comment. I’m glad to hear you’ve been organizing a pool for such a long time—that is truly impressive!
Regarding your questions:
Open questions: It isn’t necessary to fill them out. You can simply leave them blank, and in the administrator sheet, you can set those specific scoring criteria to 0 points.
Ranking download: As of yesterday, the administrator file is available for download from here. It features automatic rankings that update every time a result is entered.
Participant limit: The maximum file size we have enabled allows for up to 500 users, but if you need space for more, we can certainly look into it.
You can access the administrator file from here
Best regards,
Hallo Kees, voorheen gebruikte ik altijd de excelpool van Eric de Jong. Bedoelde jij die ook? Kunnen we misschien samen kijken hoe we deze pool vorm kunnen geven? Vind het nog best wel een beetje ingewikkeld, vooral de puntentelling.
Hoi Henri en Kees,
Ook wij gebruikte met veel plezier de Excelpool van Eric maar helaas is hij ermee gestopt. Zitten eraan te denken om deze Excel-pool dit jaar te gebruiken maar is wel een iets andere puntentelling tov die van Eric.Wat is jullie bevinding van deze pool? Ben ik wel benieuwd naar. En ben er best wel huiverig voor dat e.e.a. niet werkt, we spelen met ongeveer 300 mensen en dan zitten we niet te wachten aan problemen 😉
Why the delay on the admin spreadsheet? Will there be a cost?
Hi Chris,
The admin spreadsheet is already available.
This look great. I have two questions though.
Thank you for your feedback Christopher!
1. Admin file: Yes, the admin excel will definitely include a specific tab with the participants league table, where you can easily track the total points accumulated by every player.
2. Group tie-breakers: The groups are indeed determined following the official FIFA tie-breaking criteria up to point e) the greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
While we could have included the disciplinary (fair play) points, it would have required manually inputting every single card shown in every match. Providing the option to manually select the order at that stage serves as a practical substitute for the fair play or drawing of lots criteria.
Hey! Is it possible that the time is wrong? Does it take into count the time change for the summer period? I’m from Europe and I think the time for the game doesn’t match. Let me know!
Hi Moi
The schedules already take daylight saving time into account.
However, if you can point out which specific time or event seems to be incorrect, please let us know and we will review it, to make sure everything is ok.
Hi Mat, I’m thinking about using your Excel sheet at work as a fun social activity. We have more than five employees. How large can the groups be?
Best regards Kim
Hi Kim, Thanks for your interest in using the Excel sheet as a social activity at work. There will be versions available that support groups of up to 500 people, so it works well for larger teams.
Best regards
Hi Mat, thank you for the response. When would the be available for download?
The file will be available for download a few days after all the participating teams for the 2026 World Cup are known.
Hi Mat, I wonder if there is an update on this. I am looking to organize one for my family and friends, so I am hoping to have a version for up to 20 participants. Thank you for you work on this!
Hi Juanse,
Thanks for your comment.
Yes, the versions for 20 participants are now available from here.
[…] latest offering. Previously, we shared Excel sheets for national team tournaments, including the Excel World Cup Qatar 2022 and Excel Copa America 2024 (in spainsh). Additionally, our Excel Champions 2023-2024 for club […]
Are you able to add the names of the people who have drawn each country in a sweepstake so I can track who is still in, playing where etc?
Hi Matt,
Is there guidance as to how many points are awarded. They are all 0 in the admin file. Would putting 1 in for each be fair?
Interested in bringing this into my workplace. Can you let me know though if results are automatically input or am I manually putting the results in after each match?
Hi Tomas,
You should manually put in the results after each match.
Hey great job here! Thanks for it.
Why the flags are not displayed in the Excel file? Do you know when the administrator will be ready? I saw it is already for the Spanish version.
Thanks, Matt
Hi Matt,
Thanks for your comment. If the flags are not displayed is because of the excel version. There are emojis, not images, and some version don’t support it.
The English version of the administrator file is now avalaible.