The teams of France, Argentina, Spain and England were present in the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup, which is happening for the first time with the top 4 teams in the FIFA ranking present in the golden square of the World Cup.
Following Argentina's qualification to the World Cup semi-finals and completing the qualifiers' contract, some recalled FIFA's attempt to ensure the presence of the FIFA ranking quartet in the golden square for 2026.
And indeed that is what happened, with France at the top, then Argentina second, Spain in third place and England in fourth place; they will play fiery matches in the semi-finals.
On 28 November 2025, a week before the 2026 World Cup draw, the English network "TNT" published a report on changing the way the draw is conducted.
The goal is to prevent the top 4 ranked countries from meeting each other except in the semi-finals if they top their groups.
The report at the time explained: "Spain and Argentina, ranked first and second in the FIFA ranking, will be placed in opposite halves of the draw, along with France ranked third and England ranked fourth".
FIFA implemented the method used in the Wimbledon tennis tournament, where the draw gives the top 4 in the ranking the chance to face each other in the semi-finals if they do not exit early.
And that is exactly what happened: Spain, France, England and Argentina topped their groups and each team got a path away from direct competition.
Things went as planned until reaching the golden square.
The report indicated that this is not the first time FIFA has adopted this system called "two separate paths", as it happened before in the 2025 Club World Cup in order to "ensure competitive balance".
This comes at a time when no restrictions were imposed in previous tournaments on the teams' paths; France and Argentina had previously met in the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup.
The only case where this would not happen is if one of the four teams does not top its group.
Semi-final match dates
France × Spain.. Tuesday 14 July at 10:00 PM at Dallas Stadium.
Argentina × England.. Wednesday 15 July at 10:00 PM at Atlanta Stadium.
Third-place match
Saturday 18 July 11:59 PM.. The semi-final losers
The final
Sunday 19 July 10:00 PM.. The semi-final winners
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