Can You Beat Paul? World Cup 2026 Predictions

Can You Beat Paul? World Cup 2026 Predictions

Every great tournament needs a fearless forecaster, and ours goes by the name of Paul. Our head stats man has spent more hours poring over form guides, expected-goals models and head-to-head records than he’d care to admit, and now he’s putting his reputation on the line for the 2026 World Cup. Match by match, group by group, Paul is calling the result of every game on the full tournament schedule before a ball is kicked — and inviting you to prove him wrong.

This is where the fun begins. Ahead of each fixture, Paul shares his verdict alongside the reasoning behind it: the numbers that swayed him, the form lines he’s trusting and the upsets he reckons are brewing across North America. He won’t always get it right, of course — that’s rather the point. The beautiful game has a habit of making fools of even the sharpest statisticians, and a single moment of magic can send the best-laid predictions out of the window.

So here’s the challenge at the heart of our Can You Beat Paul? World Cup 2026 Predictions page. Read his calls, weigh up the evidence, then back your own judgement against his. Think you’ve spotted a banker he’s missed, or a giant ready to fall? Before you commit, it’s worth weighing up who the favourites and dark horses really are — then see whether your footballing instincts can outscore our resident numbers man.

Check back regularly as the fixtures roll in. From the opening group games through to the latter stages, Paul will keep his predictions coming — and if you need a refresher on how the 48 teams were drawn into their groups, that’s all laid out too. The leaderboard between man and reader is yours to win. The only question that matters: can you beat Paul?