Senegal 2026 Schedule & Game Calendar

Where Senegal stand after their Group I opener

Senegal arrive at the 2026 World Cup as the African side in a hard group, still searching for a first world title and back among the elite for the first 48-team edition. The draw set Senegal in Group I with France, Norway, and Iraq, and the three matches play out across the United States and Canada between June 16 and June 26.

The opener was a steep one. Senegal lost 3-1 to France at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on June 16, a result that drops them behind in the group before the second round of fixtures. From there the schedule keeps them in New York and then sends them north: Norway at the same stadium on June 22, then Iraq in Toronto on June 26. Three games, two host cities, all of them inside the Eastern time zone.

The position after one match is demanding, not closed. Two of the four teams in each group advance automatically, and the eight best third-placed sides across the 12 groups also reach the Round of 32. Finishing in the top two is the goal, with group winners rewarded by a softer bracket seeding. For Senegal, the France defeat turns the Norway and Iraq games into the matches that will define the campaign, and points in both would keep their tournament alive.

The first 48-team World Cup runs 104 matches across the USA, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, and Senegal’s group games stay in the northeastern corner of that map. Two of the three are at the New York/New Jersey Stadium, with the closer a trip north to Toronto, so Senegal are spared the long internal hops that some groups draw. The single change of city comes only for the final match, which lets them settle in one base for the bulk of the group stage and gives the recovery from the France defeat a stable footing.

Breaking down Senegal’s three group games

Senegal’s World Cup opened on Tuesday, June 16 at 3:00 PM ET against France in New York. The New York/New Jersey Stadium hosted it, and the 3-1 scoreline means Senegal came away from a meeting with a two-time champion empty-handed. A defeat in the first game is a tough way to begin a four-team group, because it puts the burden squarely on the two fixtures that follow.

The second match may prove the decisive one. Senegal stay at the New York/New Jersey Stadium to face Norway on Monday, June 22, an 8:00 PM ET kickoff with Senegal again on the road. Two sides chasing the places behind France will treat this as a turning point, and a Senegal win would reset the group and put real pressure back on their rivals before the final round.

The group ends in Toronto on Friday, June 26 against Iraq, a 3:00 PM ET start, and here Senegal are the home team for the only time in the group. By then their fate may rest on this fixture, with goal difference a possible factor. Toronto is the date to mark, because Senegal’s finishing position decides which side of the knockout bracket they would enter, assuming results elsewhere fall their way.

The closing fixture has a symmetry to it, because Iraq also lost their opener, so both sides could walk into Toronto needing the win. That tends to make for an open game rather than a guarded one. The home tag means little at a North American World Cup with no true home crowd for Senegal, yet the stakes do not soften for it. For two teams chasing the group from behind, the last round can be the line between an early flight home and a place in the Round of 32, and Senegal will treat it that way.

Senegal’s route into the 48-team knockout stage

Come through Group I and the new format takes hold. The 2026 World Cup runs to 104 matches and adds a Round of 32 that the 32-team setup never had. Group winners and runners-up join the eight best third-placed teams, and the tournament turns to straight knockout from there: Round of 32, Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final on July 19.

The opponent Senegal would face in the Round of 32 is unknown for now, and it remains so until all 12 groups have played their last round. The bracket locks in from the top as group positions are confirmed, so Senegal’s first knockout opponent only emerges in the closing days of the group stage. You can keep up with the whole field, every group and the bracket as it forms, on the 2026 World Cup overview.

For Senegal, reaching the knockouts from a group with two UEFA sides would be a marker worth setting, and the expanded format gives them a realistic way back after the opening loss. The third-place route is part of that, though Senegal will want to settle matters in the top two rather than wait on other results. Each group game from here either earns a place or sharpens the seeding, and the calendar above tracks every step.

Saving and syncing Senegal’s World Cup schedule

Every Senegal fixture on this page can drop straight onto your own calendar. Use the download button on the schedule above to pull the full set as an ICS file, a CSV spreadsheet, or a printable PDF, and you can take the whole Group I run or single out one match.

The ICS file is the choice for most. Import it into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook and Senegal’s group games show up with the kickoff times already converted to your own zone, plus the venue and host city. Since the schedule is built on live tournament data, it stays correct without any effort: if a kickoff time changes, or once a Senegal knockout opponent is confirmed, those entries update on their own.

Following several teams this summer? The same downloads exist for every nation at the 2026 World Cup, so you can set Senegal’s fixtures next to another side and read the whole tournament off one calendar. Mark the Group I dates first, June 16, June 22, and June 26, then let any knockout match arrive as the bracket fills out. The PDF prints cleanly for a wall or a desk, while the ICS and CSV files are the ones to use if you would rather keep Senegal’s World Cup on a phone or a shared calendar.