Following Friday night’s results, every Arsenal player at the World Cup has reached the knockout stages, so who will they face next?
Friday night settled the last remaining doubts about Arsenal players making the knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup.
Leandro Trossard fired Belgium to victory over New Zealand to send his team through, Spain (David Raya, Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino) topped the group with a win over Uruguay, and England (Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke) qualified thanks to other teams’ results.
With a win and a draw from their first two games, England’s worst-case scenario is that they lose their final group game to eliminated Panama and finish third. But even then, England’s record would be sufficient to see them through as one of the best third-place teams.
As well as Belgium, Brazil (Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Magalhaes), Germany (Kai Havertz), and France (William Saliba) have progressed as group winners, with Norway (Martin Odegaard) going through as a runner-up, and Ecuador (Piero Hincapie) and Sweden (Viktor Gyokeres) as third-place finishers.
The question now is which teams they’ll all face next in the round of 32.
Arsenal players’ World Cup last-32 opponents
Arsenal’s Brazil internationals will be first up on June 29th, facing Japan. Then Germany will face Paraguay later in the day. The following day, Norway will take on the Ivory Coast, before multiple Arsenal players face off as France play Sweden.
Belgium will take on the third-place team from Group A, I, or J on July 1st. That means South Korea, Senegal, or Austria/Algeria, depending on the remaining group results.
Then Spain will play the Group J runner-up on July 2nd, which will be either Austria or Algeria.
Ecuador will either face Mexico on June 30th or the Group K winner (Colombia or Portugal) on July 3rd. Their reward for only finishing third in the group is that uncertainty over the date of their next fixture.
Finally, England’s opponent is very unclear at this stage, as their final position in the group is unknown. If England win the group, they’ll face third place from Group I, J, or K (Senegal, Austria/Algeria, or Portugal/D.R. Congo/Uzbekistan).
If England finish second, they’ll face the Group K runner-up (Colombia, Portugal, or D.R. Congo).
If England finish third, they’ll face the winner of Group K (Colombia or Portugal).
In all, that means England could face Senegal, Austria, Algeria, Portugal, D.R. Congo, Uzbekistan, or Colombia. We’ll know the answer to all of the above uncertainties by Sunday morning.
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