A last eight without its old landmarks
For the first time in World Cup history, the quarter-finals will be contested without either Brazil or Germany. According to FIFA's official facts and figures on the last eight, the two most decorated nations at the tournament, sides that had reached this stage in essentially every previous edition, are both out at the same time. Their joint departure has left the 2026 bracket looking unfamiliar, and it has handed the initiative to a group of contenders who are used to arriving here as challengers rather than favourites.
The champions who left early
Germany went out first, and in the most bruising way. On 29 June in Boston, Julian Nagelsmann's team drew 1-1 with Paraguay in the round of 32, Kai Havertz cancelling out Julio Enciso's opener, before losing 3-4 on penalties. As Sky Sports and Al Jazeera reported, it was the four-time champions' first-ever shootout defeat at a World Cup, decided when Jose Canale converted the sudden-death winner. For a nation that had built much of its reputation on composure from the spot, it was a jarring way to fall.
Brazil lasted a little longer but could not escape the round of 16, beaten 1-2 by Norway at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on 5 July. Erling Haaland scored twice and Neymar's stoppage-time penalty was only a consolation. Norway's run, their first World Cup appearance in 28 years, is covered in detail in a separate feature. What matters for the wider picture is that it removed the last of the tournament's traditional heavyweights from that side of the draw.
New company in the last eight
Into the space left behind stepped Switzerland, who reached the quarter-finals for the first time since they hosted the competition in 1954. Per CBS Sports, they edged Colombia 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw on 7 July, coming through their first-ever World Cup shootout. It is the kind of result that would once have been read as a curiosity. This year it fits the pattern.
The eight teams still standing are France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, England, Argentina and Switzerland. Of those, only Norway is experiencing a World Cup quarter-final for the first time; the rest all carry pedigree, even if the two names most associated with this stage are missing. Brazil and Germany were not the only established powers to stumble either. ESPN noted that Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal lost 0-1 to Spain, settled by a Mikel Merino strike, while the co-hosts United States were beaten 4-1 by Belgium in Seattle, both in the round of 16.
What the reshaped draw sets up
The redrawn bracket has already begun to produce answers. France opened the quarter-finals by beating Morocco 2-0 on 9 July at Gillette Stadium in Boston, with Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele on the scoresheet. Spain meet Belgium on 10 July at SoFi Stadium, a tie between two sides who have each ended the run of a fallen giant.
The remaining pair follow on 11 July. Norway face England at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, the debutants against one of the tournament's more experienced survivors, before Argentina take on Switzerland at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. However the semi-finals line up, the tournament has already delivered a milestone that its record books had never previously recorded: a World Cup that has reached its final rounds with neither Brazil nor Germany in sight.
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