England 2026 Schedule & Game Calendar
View or download the complete 2026 England World Cup season schedule: all games, scores, venues, and broadcast info.
England 2026 Schedule & Results
Buy England Tickets (opens Ticketmaster in a new tab)The England play in the FIFA-WORLD-CUP (FIFA World Cup). Their 2026 schedule includes 3 games. They have 2 home games and 1 away games this season.
Download the complete England 2026 schedule as an ICS calendar file, CSV spreadsheet, or printable PDF using the Download button on the schedule above. Pick the full season, a single month, or a head-to-head matchup.
England at the 2026 World Cup: inside Group L
England start the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Group L, drawn against Croatia, Panama, and Ghana. The pool spans three confederations, with Croatia coming from UEFA, Panama from CONCACAF, and Ghana from CAF, so England face one familiar European rival and two sides they meet far less often. Their three group games run from June 17 to June 27 and stay entirely inside the United States, across three host cities. England open against Croatia at Dallas Stadium on June 17, a 4:00 PM ET kickoff and the standout fixture of the group. They then face Ghana at Boston Stadium on June 23 at 4:00 PM ET before closing against Panama at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on June 27, a 5:00 PM ET start where England are the away side. England arrive as past world champions, with one World Cup title to their name. That history counts for nothing in the math of a 48-team tournament, where only the top two from each group go through automatically and the eight best third-placed teams complete a 32-team knockout stage. For a side expected to win the group, the brief is simple to state and harder to deliver: top Group L, avoid the third-place scramble, and earn the smoothest route into the Round of 32. The three opponents present three different problems. Croatia are the seeded European rival England know well, Ghana bring CAF pace in the middle game, and Panama are the CONCACAF side who close things out. Every England game stays inside the United States and inside the Eastern time zone, so there is no travel across borders and no body-clock swing, only three matchdays that fix where England stand when the knockout bracket forms.
Every England Group L date and kickoff
England's group runs to three games across 11 days, all staged in the United States and all in the Eastern time zone, which keeps the schedule easy to track from the Americas. It begins with Croatia on Wednesday, June 17 at Dallas Stadium, a 4:00 PM ET kickoff and the toughest assignment in the pool, with England as the home team. Next is Ghana on Tuesday, June 23 at Boston Stadium, another 4:00 PM ET start and again a home fixture for England. The group closes against Panama on Saturday, June 27 at the New York/New Jersey Stadium, a 5:00 PM ET kickoff where England switch to the away side. Three host cities, three stadiums, and a run of dates that slots neatly into a calendar. The spacing helps too: a midweek opener, then six days before Ghana, then four days to the Panama finale, so England get the longer rest early and a tighter turnaround at the end. Two home billings and one away assignment, with the New York closer the only game where England are the visitors. Each fixture listed below carries the venue, the host city, and the kickoff in US Eastern, and the page refreshes the times on its own should anything in the schedule move.
Sizing up Croatia, Ghana, and Panama
Group L pairs England with one fellow UEFA side, one CAF side, and one from CONCACAF, a real spread across the global game. Croatia, the European entry, are the opening opponent in Dallas and the kind of tournament-hardened side that makes a day-one fixture awkward. Ghana, drawn from the African confederation, come next in Boston, a side England rarely face and one capable of springing a result in an expanded field. Panama, the CONCACAF representative, close things out in New York, where England are the nominal away team and where a slip would carry real cost. For England, the group is less about any one of the three and more about banking points before the final matchday. With the top two guaranteed to advance and the best third-placed teams also through, dropped points against Croatia, Ghana, or Panama would leave their group position, and their knockout seeding, hanging on the closing round. The order of the fixtures sharpens that point. Two UEFA sides, England and Croatia, meet on day one, which means the marquee game of Group L is settled before the group is a week old, and the Ghana and Panama results then decide whether England turn an early statement into top spot or have to chase it.
England's route once the group is done
Getting out of Group L is only the opening checkpoint. The 2026 World Cup expands to 48 teams and a 104-match schedule, and it adds a Round of 32 in front of the more familiar Round of 16. Win the group and England drop into a bracket slot seeded for group winners. Finish second, or advance as one of the eight best third-placed teams, and the draw can look very different. From the Round of 32 the path runs through the Round of 16, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final on July 19, with a third-place match alongside it. England's knockout opponents are not set yet, because they depend on how all 12 groups finish, so the bracket only fills in over the closing days of the group stage. As soon as a knockout opponent is confirmed for England, it shows up on this page and in any calendar you have synced, with the date, venue, and kickoff attached. One thing to plan around: a long England run would carry them past June 27 and into host cities the group stage never touched, since the knockout matches are spread across the same USA, Canada, and Mexico venues. The schedule here tracks each round as it lands, so a Round of 32 tie slots in the same way a group game does, with its own city and US Eastern kickoff.
England’s Group L campaign at the 2026 World Cup
England go into the 2026 World Cup as past champions, winners of the trophy once, and they do it inside a group that offers no soft landing on day one. The first 48-team World Cup drew England into Group L with Croatia, Ghana, and Panama, and the three fixtures play out across the United States between June 17 and June 27.
The opener is the marquee game of the pool. England meet Croatia at Dallas Stadium on June 17, a 4:00 PM ET kickoff that throws two UEFA sides together before either has settled into the tournament. From Texas the schedule moves to the northeast: Ghana in Boston on June 23, then Panama in New York on June 27. Three games, three host cities, all of them in the Eastern time zone and all on US soil.
What England need reads simply enough. Two of the four teams in every group advance automatically, and the eight best third-placed sides across the 12 groups also reach the Round of 32. Finishing top is worth more than bragging rights, because the bracket hands group winners a kinder seeding. A strong start against Croatia would settle the campaign quickly. Anything less and the Ghana and Panama games take on the weight of deciding whether England top Group L or have to grind through in a lower spot.
The geography of England’s group is unusually kind. All three fixtures sit in the United States, in Dallas, Boston, and New York, and all three kick off inside the same Eastern window, so there is no crossing into Canada or Mexico and no late-night start to absorb. The styles, though, shift with each game. Croatia are the familiar European test, Ghana bring the CAF challenge England see far less of, and Panama close the group as the CONCACAF side. England carry one World Cup title into all of this, and in a 48-team field that pedigree buys nothing once the whistle goes. Group position still has to be earned over three matchdays.
The three group games, city by city
England’s tournament opens against Croatia at Dallas Stadium on Wednesday, June 17 at 4:00 PM ET. As the home team in that fixture, England get the heavyweight tie out of the way first, and how it goes will colour the rest of the group. A win lays down a marker. A draw keeps things tight. A defeat would pile pressure onto two games many expect England to win, which is exactly the trap an expanded field can set.
The second game brings Ghana to Boston Stadium on Tuesday, June 23, another 4:00 PM ET kickoff and a second straight home fixture for England. Ghana are not a side England cross paths with regularly, and the unfamiliarity cuts both ways. This is a match England will target for three points, while knowing the 48-team World Cup has already produced its share of stubborn, awkward afternoons for the favourites.
The group closes against Panama at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on Saturday, June 27 at 5:00 PM ET, with England listed as the away team and Panama the nominal hosts. By the time it kicks off, Group L may already be settled, or it may hinge on this result and on goal difference. Either way, the New York date is the one to circle, because group position decides which half of the knockout bracket England land in.
England’s route into the 48-team knockout bracket
Clear Group L and the new format takes over. The 2026 World Cup runs to 104 matches and adds a Round of 32 that did not exist in the old 32-team setup. Group winners and runners-up are joined by the eight best third-placed teams, and from there it is straight knockout football: Round of 32, Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final on July 19, with a third-place match for the beaten semifinalists.
Who England meet in that Round of 32 is not set yet, and it cannot be until all 12 groups have played their final round. The bracket fills in as group placings lock, so the identity of England’s first knockout opponent only becomes clear in the closing days of the group stage. You can follow the whole picture, every group and the bracket as it forms, on the 2026 World Cup overview.
For England, the knockouts are where the tournament gets judged. A tidy group exit means little if the first elimination game slips away, and the expanded bracket adds one more round to survive than at any previous World Cup. That is the context behind every result in Group L. It is all seeding for the games that decide who lifts the trophy on July 19.
For planning purposes, England’s knockout dates land in stages rather than all at once. The three group fixtures are fixed. A Round of 32 game would attach once Group L is decided, then a Round of 16 tie, and on through the quarterfinals and semifinals if England keep winning. Each of those rounds is staged somewhere across the USA, Canada, and Mexico, so a deep run could send England to host cities the group stage never visited. That is the difference the expanded format makes: more rounds, more venues, and a schedule that only reveals itself as results come in.
How to download and sync England’s World Cup schedule
Every England fixture on this page can go straight onto your calendar. Use the download button on the schedule above to grab the full set as an ICS file, a CSV spreadsheet, or a printable PDF, and pick the whole campaign or a single match if that is all you want.
The ICS option is the one most fans turn to. Import it into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and England’s group games appear with the kickoff times already converted to your zone, plus the venue and host city. Because the schedule is built from live tournament data, it keeps itself honest too: if a kickoff time shifts, or once England’s knockout opponents are confirmed, those entries update without you lifting a finger.
Tracking more than one team this summer? The same downloads exist for every nation at the 2026 World Cup, so you can set England’s fixtures beside a second side and see the tournament on one calendar. Block out the Group L dates first, June 17, June 23, and June 27, then let the knockout matches drop in as the bracket takes shape.
England World Cup FAQ
Which group is England in at the 2026 World Cup?
England is in Group L at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, alongside Croatia, Ghana, and Panama.
When does England play at the 2026 World Cup?
England's group-stage matches are vs Croatia on June 17, vs Ghana on June 23, and vs Panama on June 27, with kickoff times shown above in your timezone. Knockout fixtures are added once their opponents are decided.
How do I download England's World Cup schedule?
Use the download button on the schedule above to save England's fixtures as an ICS calendar, CSV, or printable PDF, then sync to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook.
Add England's World Cup fixtures to your calendar
Get every England fixture, from the Group L games to any knockout match they reach, as an ICS, CSV, or printable PDF. Load it a single time and it tracks every change after that.