By Mohamed Hussein

This article was published on 14 Jul 202614 Jul 2026.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching its decisive matches, AI models have been tasked with forecasting the tournament's outcome.

As the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup enters its final stages, AJLabs asked nine leading AI models to predict the tournament’s final podium based on all available data for each team, including:

  • Team strength
  • Squad quality
  • Coaching
  • Historical performance
  • Team’s performance during the current tournament

France is the most favoured to win the cup, with five AI models—Gemini, Grock, DeepSeek, Le Chat, and Qwen—predicting its victory out of nine total.

Argentina, the defending world champions, received the remaining four votes (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Meta AI).

France's forward #10 Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarter-final match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9, 2026. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)
France’s forward #10 Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium in Foxborough on July 9, 2026 [Odd Andersen/AFP]

Predictions for the runner-up were more divided: France and Argentina each received three votes, followed by England with two and Spain with one.

Spain was the clear favourite to finish third, receiving six of the nine third-place predictions, while England and France each received fewer votes.

Lamine Yamal celebrates after the match as Spain qualify for the semifinal stage of the World Cup
Lamine Yamal celebrates after the match as Spain qualify for the semifinal stage of the World Cup [Gary Vasquez/Reuters]

While the AI predictions show a general agreement on the four semifinalists—France, Argentina, Spain, and England—they also reveal variations in how different language models prioritize recent form, squad depth, and tournament dynamics.

The AI predictions come as the tournament reaches the semifinals. France will face Spain on July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, while England will meet Argentina on July 15 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

The third-place playoff will be played on July 18, before the World Cup final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Champion predictions

  • France: 5 models
  • Argentina: 4 models

Runner-up predictions

  • France: 3 models
  • Argentina: 3 models
  • England: 2 models
  • Spain: 1 model

Third-place predictions

  • Spain: 6 models
  • England: 2 models
  • France: 1 model

INTERACTIVE-Who do AI models think will win the 2026 FIFA World Cup_-1783956097

The differing predictions among the AI models highlight the inherent uncertainty in sports forecasting, even with comprehensive data analysis. As the semifinals commence, the on-field results will reveal which model's assessment proves most accurate. This exercise also offers a glimpse into the current capabilities and limitations of leading language models in competitive prediction tasks.