Competition rules

Rules & Scoring

Everything you need to know about how points are earned — and how a winner is decided.

The basics

1
Group stage
4 ptsCorrect team in the correct position (1st, 2nd or 3rd)
1 ptCorrect team but in the wrong position (top 3 only — 4th place does not count)
2 ptsCorrect group winner (1st place) — awarded on top of the position points

Maximum per group: 14 pts (4+4+4+2)

2
Team progression

Points are cumulative — they stack as your picked teams progress further.

Progression points are awarded to any team in your knockout bracket that reaches the round in question.

3 ptsTeam reaches the Round of 32
3 ptsTeam reaches the Round of 16
7 ptsTeam reaches the Quarter-finals
10 ptsTeam reaches the Semi-finals
15 ptsTeam reaches the Final
20 ptsTeam wins the World Cup
3
Knockout match scores

Points below are awarded per match across all knockout rounds.

3 ptsCorrect winner
2 ptsCorrect number of goals for Team 1
2 ptsCorrect number of goals for Team 2
1 ptCorrect goal difference
2 ptsExact score bonus — awarded when all four components above are correct
Maximum per match: 10 pts (3+2+2+1+2)
!
Important rules

No draws are allowed in knockout predictions.

A penalty shootout win counts as a 1-goal win in the score.

Knockout match scores are graded against the actual fixture in that match slot, not against the teams you picked. Example: if you predict Brazil 2–1 Germany for match 73 and the actual match 73 is France 0–1 Spain, your prediction is scored as 2–1 vs 0–1 — so you'd score 2 pts for correctly predicting the away team's goal tally of 1, and nothing else.

The third-place play-off match is not included in the competition.

Tiebreakers — applied in this order
#1Total points
#2Progression points
#3Number of exact score predictions
#4Group stage points
#5If two entrants are tied on all four tiebreakers, ranking is determined by submission order.
💰
Prize money

Entry fee is €10 per entry. Every cent goes into the prize pool. The amounts below are based on 452 entries and are confirmed.

Top 10 The top 10 finishers each receive a percentage of the prize pot after the flat prizes are set aside.
1st
35%
€1,270
2nd
20%
€720
3rd
13%
€470
4th
10%
€360
5th
8%
€290
6th
5%
€180
7th
3%
€110
8th
2%
€80
9th
2%
€70
10th
2%
€70
20th+ Every 10th-place finisher from 20th onward (20th, 30th, 40th and so on) receives a flat €20 prize.
💀 Dead last — the 452nd place finisher gets their €10 entry fee back. Someone has to come last.

Prize money is paid out after the Final.

Questions? predictioncompetitionworldcup@gmail.com