The basics
How TopGaffer works
Pick winners. Spend from a bank of team uses. Climb the leaderboard. The trick is knowing when not to spend a pick on the obvious choice.
The bank
For the World Cup 2026 you have 47 picks across the whole tournament:
- · 30 picks across the group stage (10 per matchday)
- · 8 in the Round of 32
- · 4 in the Round of 16
- · 2 in the Quarter-finals
- · 2 in the Semi-finals
- · 1 in the Final
The 3-use rule
You can pick the same team a maximum of 3 times across the entire tournament. Brazil will probably win their group easily — but if you spend all 3 of their uses on group matches, you can't pick them in the knockouts when one wrong pick can drop you down the table.
Be careful with the favourites in the group stage. Save uses for the rounds where every pick is worth more — there are only 17 picks across the entire knockout phase.
Group coverage
You must make at least 2 picks from every group. That's 24 of your 30 group-stage picks committed; the remaining 6 are yours to spread however you like.
Unfilled coverage slots score zero — they aren't transferable. The coverage strip on the picks page tracks this in real time.
Scoring
- Win: 3 points · Draw: 1 · Loss: 0
- Knockout bonus: +1 if your team draws at 90 minutes and advances on extra time or penalties (total 2 points).
- Tiebreakers: Goal difference → goals for → goals against (all from the matches you picked).
Picks lock at kickoff
You can change your pick on a match any time before kickoff. Once the match starts, that pick freezes. Other matches stay editable.
Coming next
Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the English Championship arrive in time for the 2026/27 season. Same bank discipline, season-long. The World Cup event is a one-off warm-up.