SriLanka, July 5 -- The 2026 World Cup is the first in history to send 48 nations into the competition, and that single change has reshaped everything about how teams reach the knockout stage. Where every tournament since 1998 jumped straight from the group stage into a round of 16, this edition adds an entirely new round underneath it: the round of 32. It is the moment the competition stops being about points on a table and becomes pure knockout football, where one bad night ends a country's World Cup outright.
Sri Lankan fans following this tournament will want to understand this round properly, because it works differently from any World Cup that has come before it. Here is exactly how the round of 32 is built, who qualifies for it, how...