World Cup 2026 AI Predictor: score picks for every match

Squawka’s World Cup 2026 AI Predictor produced a predicted scoreline for every match at soccer’s biggest tournament, built on prediction-market prices. Rather than gut feel, each pick tracked where the market was actually moving — the favoured result and the probability behind it — refreshing as prices shifted through the tournament. With Spain crowned champions, the predictor is preserved below exactly as it closed: the complete record of how the model read the World Cup.

As tournament co-hosts, Canada were one of the nations the Predictor followed closely, and the model rated every soccer fixture the same way — from the group stage through to the final. For the thinking behind the numbers, read our AI Predictor methodology.

How the AI Predictor did, round by round

Across the whole tournament the Predictor landed 71 of its 102 settled picks — a 70% hit rate. The pattern is the story: it started slowest and finished strongest, exactly what you would expect from a model that tracks prediction-market prices as they absorb real tournament information.

The opening round was the hardest, as it always is: 24 picks into the noisiest slate of the tournament returned 54%, with debutants and heat-affected openers producing upsets no market saw coming. From Round 2 onward the prices had something real to chew on, and the hit rate jumped to 74% before the rotation-heavy final group round pulled it back to 67%.

The knockouts were where the model earned its keep. It went 13 from 15 in the round of 32 — including calling the United States’ 2–0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on the exact scoreline — and it had already called Canada’s 1–0 win over South Africa, another exact score, in the same round. The round of 16 brought its two loudest misses, Brazil falling to Norway and Switzerland’s stalemate with Colombia, but it still ran at 75%.

From there it barely blinked: a perfect 4-for-4 in the quarter-finals, a split pair of semi-finals — Spain over France called, England’s defeat of a favoured Argentina missed — and no pick could reasonably have found the 6–4 chaos of the third-place game. It signed off by backing Spain in the final, and Spain delivered the trophy.

For how the model works under the hood, read the AI Predictor methodology; for the full tournament story, see how the World Cup finished and the final report.

How to read the AI Predictor

The Predictor covers every soccer match at the 2026 World Cup, from the group stage to the final. Each row gives the model’s predicted scoreline, the win probability drawn from live prediction-market prices, and a link to our full match preview. Completed games are marked as a hit or a miss, so you can track the model’s record as the tournament unfolds — and when you fancy a pick, the bet365 odds are one tap away.

Prediction-market prices move fast, especially once team news lands, so these picks are refreshed throughout the World Cup. Follow the goals on our World Cup 2026 stats page, track the all-time Golden Boot race, and see the latest tournament winner odds.

Predicted scores are based on live prediction-market prices and update through the tournament. Odds via bet365, subject to change. 19+ (18+ in AB, MB & QC). Please play responsibly.