Group Stage: The first part of a tournament in which teams play in groups in order to qualify for the knock-out rounds.
What does it mean?
The group stage takes place at the start of a tournament in order to find out which teams will qualify for the next round. In the group stage of the World Cup all the teams play each other once and the top two teams automatically qualify for the knock-out rounds. There are 48 teams taking part in the 2026 World Cup and these teams have been divided into 12 groups of four (Group A to Group L).
Examples
- England should qualify from the group stage and make it to the first knock-out round – the last 32.
- Germany failed to qualify from the group stage in the Qatar World Cup
- There are 72 games in the 2026 World Cup group stage.
Similar words/meanings
- First round
Find out more
- Read more about the group stages of tournaments that we have previously covered
- Read more about the ‘group stage‘ from our main glossary
