Football Cup Simulator4.0.0

How would the draw of an expanded tournament to 64 teams look like?
Simulate it, several times if needed and come to your own conclusion of how exciting or boring it could be :-)

Football tournament simulator allows you to build your own fantasy tournament format by selecting from various parameters
1. Number of teams
2. Tournament format
3. Number of groups
4. Number of groups in the 2nd stage (if the format supports it) and their structure.
5. The first Knock out phase in the tournament

Could preselect a format from a previous year of the tournament or from the one decided for the 2026 one.
Uses the confederation limits which were in place/proposed for each of the specific tournament templates selected. If you don’t like these limits you could turn them off, in which case the teams will be chosen based on a global world ranking.

Don’t like any of the previous year templates, then build your own exciting tournament. The model will correct you and give you suggestions/explainations during configuration if the combination of parameters you are choosing defies the math :-)

The model uses the rankings of the teams (as of 20th July 2026) in determining the probability when deciding on the results of a game.

Supports various tournament formats that occurred previously between 1930-2030
1. Groups followed by knock out stages, the one you have got used to and thought that's the only one used, if you are not old enough :-)
2. Groups followed by a 2nd stage of groups and then a much more reduced knock out stage. This is my particular favourite. Partially too because that's the way it was when I started following.
3. Only knockouts. Ah! Something used almost a century ago, has a certain bit of excitement to it.
4. Group followed by a Finals group, no knockouts. Winner is winner of the finals group.
5. Finals Group. This one has not actually been used but added as other tournaments have used this

Have even thrown in some options which have never been used in any world cup tournament E.g.
* 64 teams
* Various number of round 1 groups
* A Round of 64 as the first knock out phase
* Finals group format

Happy Tournament building!!

Version History Added a Custom tournament slot to build your own format
Added 2030 Tournament format! Yes you read that right 2030 :-)
Updated Rankings of teams
Now if we select Previously used formats will not let you change it by accident.
2026 tournament format no longer uses the real 2026 group assignments (now that the tournament is over) 4.0.0 Aug 19 For 2026 tournament will now simulate along with Actual results from the Group stage results, where every country has played 3 games
Can turn this off (Setting) if you still want to simulate all games 3.9.1 Jul 2 For 2026 tournament will now simulate along with Actual results from round 1 (Mtchday 1) of the group games, where every country has played one game each
Can turn this off if you still want to simulate all games
2026 Tournament now uses Head to Head to resolve rank in the group before the Goal Difference and Goals For. This is a new in the 2026 Tournament 3.9.0 Jun 23 When the 2026 Tournament Format is selected, the below 2 can now be turned on or off
* 1st Simulation Honors Rank (Sim 1)
* Simulate a Championship for each of the 48 countries (Sim 10-57)

Other bug fixes 3.8.1 May 30 Road to the Cup Championship!!
See how each of the participating 48 teams can win it all, no mater how unlikely it maybe for some of the teams :-)
For the 2026 tournament simulation selection, Out of the 100 Simulations 48 (Sim 10-57) will be dedicated to show how each country could end up winning it all 3.8.0 May 4 Correct a couple of Stats
Other bug fixes
Better defaults 3.7.6 Apr 27 Updated the Rankings based on the latest rankings (1st April 2026)
Fixed bug where the KO bracket showing flags was not updating based on the Simulation chosen 3.7.5 Apr 4 The 2026 tournament final 48 teams. Updated after the last round of Qualifiers 3.7.4 Apr 2 Bugs Fixed

1. 'All Years' on selection list was showing a country winner flag
2. Country header flag was squeezed
3. Suriname, Albania were not showing up in Country list even though they qualified in some simulations
4. Removed countries that got eliminated in Round 1 of Intercontinental and European playoffs 3.7.3 Mar 27 Now an option called 'Finals First' which can be selected to show the Finals first, thm Semis etc.. and the Group stages below the Knockout stages 3.7.2 Mar 11 Now you can take a look at the rankings of the countries that the probabilities are based on in the match simulations 3.7.1 Feb 26 An option for the 2026 Tournament to select Championship for every country
This will do 48 (out of the 100) simulations where every country will have a road to winning the Cup :-) 3.7.0 Feb 11 When selection from the list of simulations for the 2026 Tournament, it highlights the first simulation which does game results based on ranking
For the Resolving of 3rd placed teams for 2026, we now also show which pairing is used based on the 8 best 3rd placed teams that got through 3.6.1 Feb 6 For the 2026 cup we now also show a KO bracket along with the game results
Minor bug fix 3.6.0 Feb 3 For Knockout round games we now do Added Extra Time and Penalty Shootouts to some of the games, just like how it normally occurs
Fixed bug where 1950 Group Final format type tournament was showing cup not on the winning team 3.5.2 Jan 31 All the games of the winning country are shown with a Cup at the side of the flag for easy spotting
The winning country text is in a golden color 3.5.1 Jan 28 * Reflects latest Rankings 20th Jan 2026. A lot of the African countries ranking changed after the Africa Cup
* When selecting a simulation to look at, the simulation list shows a flag at the side indicating the winner
* Minor Bug fix 3.5.0 Jan 23 The 1st Knockout stage of the 2026 tournament shows the Group and ranking of the teams that make it to the Round of 32
For the 2026 Tournament the best 3rd place teams ranking shows group name of even those teams don't make it through 3.4.2 Jan 20 Fixed bug where when we did 'By Country' Info the Game display had a bug
For the best 3rd placed teams for the 2026 Tournament Format, now show the Group they qualified from 3.4.1 Jan 13 We have made Simulation 1 (out of 100) to have the higher ranked country always win
Bug Fixes 3.3.0 Jan 2 For formats (like 2026, 1986-1994) that have an uneven number of teams advancing from group stage to knockouts, we now show how those teams are ranked and selected as to who advances. E.g. In 2026 8 out of the 12 group 3rd placed teams will advance to the round of 32 to join the 12 X 2 (24) 1st and 2nd placed teams 3.2.0 12/16/2025 2026 Tournament Draw based on actual groups for the tournament
Bug fixes 3.1.0 12/08/2025 Corrected the 2026 Tournament Format from 16 groups to 12 groups
Making use of the Pots the 48 teams have been assigned to for the draw
Adding new countries, those that have qualified and have a potential to qualify that have not taken part before 3.0.0 12/02/2025 * Why just simulate the chosen format once? How about a 100 iterations of the tournament.
* Stats of the countries, Games, Phases, Scores for the 100 iterations
* Rank of the countries by Games, Phase for the 100 iterations
* Introduced a Round of 64 Format 2.0.0 05/20/2025 Fixes with draw probability 1.0.1 04/24/2024