Chris Sutton Predicts Final Group Stage Outcomes for 2026 World Cup

Football expert Chris Sutton has released his predictions for the final set of group games at the 2026 World Cup. As part of his comprehensive effort to predict the outcome of all 104 tournament matches, Sutton has also determined the final standings for each of the 12 groups.

In Group G, Sutton's pre-tournament expectations were that Belgium would finish as winners and Egypt would take the runner-up spot, with New Zealand and Iran finishing third and fourth, respectively.

Other pre-tournament picks from Sutton include South Korea as winners of Group A and Mexico as runners-up, while Switzerland and Canada were tipped for the top two spots in Group B. In Group H, he predicted Spain would win the group with Uruguay finishing second, and in Group I, he backed Senegal to win with France as runners-up.

Sutton's predictions are part of a broader analysis by BBC Sport, which has compared his results against those of an AI generated by Microsoft Copilot Chat and a new predictor game played by users. In the second round of 24 group games, the AI correctly predicted 15 results, while Sutton correctly predicted 14. The BBC's user base performed the best, getting 18 of the 24 results correct.

Looking ahead to the final matches, the predictions will cover high-profile fixtures including England's match against Panama and Scotland's game against Brazil.