The Round of 32 begins Sunday June 28 with a single fixture — South Korea against Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. FIFA's schedule is deliberately gentle on opening day, with one match to set the tone before the full knockout slate begins on Monday. Here is what the Korea–Bosnia tie looks like, the full bracket published behind it, and how the new 32-team round works.
South Korea vs Bosnia · SoFi Stadium, Inglewood · 3:00 p.m. ET
The fixture is Match 73 in FIFA's numbering — Group A runner-up against Group B runner-up. South Korea finished second behind Mexico in Group A on five points, with Son Heung-min in his last World Cup at 33 and a midfield rebuilt around Lee Kang-in. The Tottenham captain has scored once in the tournament and looked sharp doing it.
Bosnia are the romantic story of the round. Edin Džeko, 40 years old in a few months, has carried this side through one of the more unlikely qualifying campaigns of the cycle. They finished second in Group B behind Canada and arrive with three points from group play and a goal difference that says they will struggle in a track meet but can absolutely cling on for 90 minutes. Sit deep, hit through Džeko and Krunić, hope a set piece breaks right.
The model gives South Korea the edge at around 58%. The stylistic mismatch is real — Korea press high, Bosnia want the game slow — but the recent history is not. The two have not met competitively since 2017. SoFi Stadium will play host to its third World Cup match of the tournament and the first knockout tie on US soil. Expect the crowd to skew heavily Korean; the Los Angeles diaspora is one of the largest outside Seoul.
Why only one match on opening day
FIFA's published schedule allots a single fixture to Sunday by design. The group stage closed Saturday June 27 with six matches across three groups; the round of 32 is then drip-fed across Sunday through Friday July 3 — one match Sunday, three per day Monday through Friday. Sixteen ties in seven days. The Round of 16 begins Saturday July 4.
The reason for the spacing is broadcast and rest: with 16 knockout matches to schedule across three time zones in two host countries, FIFA wanted each fixture in its own window where possible. The Sunday slot is positioned to give the opening match maximum focus before the volume picks up.
The full Round of 32 bracket
The bracket is fixed in advance. Group winners are pre-mapped to specific runner-up and third-place slots based on FIFA's Annex C template; the only variable was which eight third-place teams qualified, which Saturday's late games confirmed. The third-place teams — Senegal, Australia, South Africa, Algeria, Curaçao, Sweden, Cape Verde, Scotland — emerged from groups A, C, D, E, F, H, I and J. That set selects combination 275 from the Annex, which produces the following 16 ties.
- Sun Jun 28 · South Korea (2A) vs Bosnia (2B) · SoFi, 3 p.m. ET
- Mon Jun 29 · Brazil (1C) vs Japan (2F) · Houston, 1 p.m. ET
- Mon Jun 29 · Germany (1E) vs Scotland (3C) · Foxborough, 4:30 p.m. ET
- Mon Jun 29 · Netherlands (1F) vs Morocco (2C) · Guadalajara, 9 p.m. ET
- Tue Jun 30 · Ecuador (2E) vs France (2I) · Arlington, 1 p.m. ET
- Tue Jun 30 · Norway (1I) vs Sweden (3F) · MetLife, 5 p.m. ET
- Tue Jun 30 · Mexico (1A) vs Cape Verde (3H) · Azteca, 9 p.m. ET
- Wed Jul 1 · England (1L) vs Senegal (3I) · Atlanta, 12 p.m. ET
- Wed Jul 1 · Belgium (1G) vs South Africa (3A) · Seattle, 4 p.m. ET
- Wed Jul 1 · USA (1D) vs Curaçao (3E) · Santa Clara, 8 p.m. ET
- Thu Jul 2 · Spain (1H) vs Austria (2J) · SoFi, 3 p.m. ET
- Thu Jul 2 · Colombia (2K) vs Croatia (2L) · Toronto, 7 p.m. ET
- Thu Jul 2 · Canada (1B) vs Algeria (3J) · Vancouver, 11 p.m. ET
- Fri Jul 3 · Paraguay (2D) vs Egypt (2G) · Arlington, 2 p.m. ET
- Fri Jul 3 · Argentina (1J) vs Uruguay (2H) · Miami, 6 p.m. ET
- Fri Jul 3 · Portugal (1K) vs Australia (3D) · Kansas City, 9:30 p.m. ET
How the Round of 32 works
The format is new — added for 2026 because the tournament grew to 48 teams. Thirty-two clubs enter, sixteen advance, and the rest of the bracket from there looks like every World Cup since 1986. Single-leg knockout matches; if level after 90 minutes, straight to 30 minutes of extra time, then penalties. No replays, no second leg. Five substitutions per side. Concussion subs are additional. The away-goals rule does not exist here because there is no second leg.
The bracket pairing wrinkle: group winners do not freely meet runners-up. The 16 ties are pre-defined by Annex C of the regulations — every possible third-place qualifying combination (495 in total) maps to a specific bracket. There is no draw step between the group stage and the knockouts. The path each team will take to the final has been knowable since the group-stage finales ended Saturday night.
The fixtures worth setting an alarm for
Beyond Sunday's opener, the week's headline ties — purely on competitive balance — are Brazil vs Japan in Houston on Monday (the Asian dark horse against a Brazilian side that has not looked convincing in the group stage), Ecuador vs France in Arlington on Tuesday (a defending-finalist side facing the tournament's most defensively organised mid-tier opponent), and Colombia vs Croatia in Toronto on Thursday (two sides who drew their groups and now meet as runners-up). The model has all three inside 60–40.
FAQ
Why is there only one match on Sunday? FIFA's schedule. The Round of 32 is spread across Sunday June 28 through Friday July 3, with one match Sunday and three matches a day Monday through Friday. Sixteen ties in seven days.
How are the bracket pairings decided? They are not drawn. FIFA published Annex C of the tournament regulations before the World Cup began — a table that maps every possible combination of qualifying third-place teams to a specific set of Round of 32 fixtures. Saturday's group finales locked in combination 275 of 495.
What happens if a match is level after extra time? Penalties. Five takers per side first, then sudden-death.
When does the Round of 16 begin? Saturday July 4 — yes, Independence Day. Two matches that day, in Houston and Philadelphia.
Where can I follow live? The full Round of 32 schedule and live scores are on Scorelisto's soccer page, and our daily previews and recaps continue on the blog through the final on July 19.