You predict the entire tournament: how all 12 groups finish, which eight third-place teams advance, and every knockout round to the champion. Your picks are scored against real results. One free bracket per player. No prizes; the leaderboard is the trophy.
| Prediction | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Group winner (each of 12 groups) | 1 | 12 |
| Group runner-up (each of 12 groups) | 1 | 12 |
| Qualifying third (each group whose third-place team advances) | 1 | 8 |
| Team reaching the Round of 16 | 1 | 16 |
| Team reaching the Quarter-finals | 2 | 16 |
| Team reaching the Semi-finals | 4 | 16 |
| Team reaching the Final | 8 | 16 |
| Champion | 16 | 16 |
| Maximum | 112 |
Knockout picks score by how far each team you advanced actually gets, not by match numbers or pairings. If you sent a team to the semi-finals and it reaches the semi-finals, you score, no matter which side of the bracket it took. Which knockout slot a qualifying third lands in is set by the published allocation table, not by skill, so slot placement is never scored.
A pick only counts if you saved it before the first match that gives information about it.
Every pick stays editable all tournament — nothing is ever blocked. Sealing is about points, not buttons: a section earns points only if your last save of it happened before its kickoff. Edit a sealed section and you forfeit that section's points; the rest of your bracket keeps scoring. The app warns you before you do this. Saving after a kickoff never un-seals anything, for anyone, with no exceptions and nothing to buy back.
Entry stays open the whole tournament, but your maximum possible score drops as kickoffs pass, because revealed sections can no longer earn points. The leaderboard shows everyone's score next to their own ceiling ("score / possible").
| You save your bracket by | Max points still reachable |
|---|---|
| June 12, before Group B kicks off | 110 |
| June 14 | 98 |
| June 15 | 92 |
| June 17 onward | 80 (knockout picks only) |
Waiting is always a losing trade: every day you delay permanently burns points off your ceiling.
So nothing arrives as a surprise: match-calls (per-match predictions like exact score and total goals, earning points into the same leaderboard) launch for the knockout rounds. A fresh knockout-only bracket opens around June 27 when the real field of 32 is set, and locks at the Round of 32 kickoff on June 28. Extra brackets are paid; the original free bracket never changes its rules.
Scores update as results are confirmed. We use official final results (including extra time and penalties for knockout matches, as defined by the tournament's published regulations). If a result is changed by the competition's official process, scores are recalculated. Official determinations prevail.
One free bracket per player. Creating multiple accounts to dodge the lock schedule or farm free entries gets brackets removed from the board. The point of the gate is that everyone's picks were made before the information existed; anything that breaks that, breaks the game.
The Bracket 26 is an independent prediction game for entertainment only, operated by MishoTech Inc. No prizes are awarded.