Washington Post · Jun 21, 2018
All the World Cup tiebreaker rules and knockout round scenarios, explained
Getting to Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium for the World Cup final is the goal of every team. (Denis Tyrin/Associated Press)With the first round of World Cup group stage action in the books, it’s time to start looking at how FIFA goes about breaking ties in the standings to place teams in the knockout-round bracket. The top two teams in each group advance to the round of 16.
Here’s how the teams are ranked in the groups, as explained by FIFA:
1. Greatest number of points (each team gets three for a win and one for a draw).
2. Goal difference in all group matches.
3. Goals scored in all group matches.