Ranking the World Cup 2026 groups: Which teams are favourites to progress?
The first stage of the 2026 World Cup 2026 features 12 groups. We’ve ranked them and picked the favourites to advance.

The first stage of the 2026 World Cup 2026 features 12 groups. We’ve ranked them and picked the favourites to advance.









A former Supreme Court justice, Celso Gamboa was accused by the US of using government connections to traffic cocaine.
Angel Esteban Aguilar is suspected of masterminding the 2023 assassination of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate.
Leaders of Colombia and Ecuador trade allegations after Gustavo Petro says 27 charred bodies found on country’s border.
Interior Minister John Reimberg warned for residents in four provinces to obey a curfew to avoid ‘collateral damage’.
Noboa’s government gave Cuba’s diplomats 48 hours to leave Ecuador, though it did not provide an explanation.
Cuba’s Ambassador to Ecuador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff were given 48 hours to leave Quito.
Critics have questioned the increasing scope and deadly consequences of US anti-narcotics operations in Latin America.
The new announcement from Quito follows an initial 30 percent tariff imposed by the Andean nation in early February.

More than 150 giant tortoises have been reintroduced to Ecuador’s Floreana Island in the Galapagos.
School superintendent says the child was ‘essentially’ used ‘as bait’ to apprehend his father, who is seeking asylum.