WC 2026 Group G Guide: Squads and Fixtures

The 2026 World Cup Group G will be staged in the autumn of the careers of major stars. Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois are most likely going to their last World Cup as the last representatives left from the "golden generation". In Egypt, Mohamed Salah closed his Liverpool adventure at the end of May and comes to the World Cup as a free agent; the country signs its fourth World Cup participation after 1934, 1990 and 2018 — but has never won a World Cup match in its history. Iran is going to its fourth consecutive World Cup; Team Melli, which is eliminated in the group every time, will play all three matches on the US west coast. New Zealand makes its third World Cup participation after 1982 and 2010 and took advantage of the new direct slot granted to Oceania. The group's matches will be played in the US cities of Seattle and Los Angeles (Inglewood) and the Canadian city of Vancouver.

Team Profiles and Announced Squads

🇧🇪 Belgium (Manager: Rudi Garcia) French manager Garcia, who managed Lyon, Marseille, Roma and Napoli, took office in January 2025 replacing Domenico Tedesco. Belgium had grabbed the World Cup ticket by completing UEFA Group J unbeaten in first place; beating Lichtenstein 7-0 in the qualifying process was one of the eye-catching results. Garcia trusted main star Romelu Lukaku at 33 years old despite him having played only an hour of competitive football this season due to injury. Malick Fofana, the top scorer of the qualifying process, was not included in the squad; also Lois Openda and Michy Batshuayi did not take place in the list. Youri Tielemans took over team captaincy in the new era. Belgium had finished third at the 2018 World Cup and was eliminated in the group stage at Qatar 2022.

• Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Senne Lammens (Manchester United), Mike Penders (Racing Strasbourg)
• Defenders: Timothy Castagne (Fulham), Zeno Debast (Sporting CP), Maxim De Cuyper (Brighton & Hove Albion), Koni De Winter (Milan), Brandon Mechele (Club Brugge), Thomas Meunier (Lille), Nathan Ngoy (Lille), Joaquin Seys (Club Brugge), Arthur Theate (Eintracht Frankfurt)
• Midfielders: Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli — 34, left Manchester City last season), Amadou Onana (Aston Villa), Nicolas Raskin (Rangers), Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa — captain), Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge), Axel Witsel (Girona — 4th consecutive WC)
• Forwards: Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta), Jeremy Doku (Manchester City), Matias Fernandez-Pardo (Lille — 21, young captain candidate), Romelu Lukaku (Napoli — 89 international goals, all-time top scorer), Dodi Lukebakio (Benfica), Diego Moreira (Strasbourg), Alexis Saelemaekers (Milan), Leandro Trossard (Arsenal)

🇪🇬 Egypt (Manager: Hossam Hassan) Egypt's all-time top scorer (69 international goals) Hossam Hassan is at the helm of his own team in the manager's seat. Captain Mohamed Salah is two goals away from Hassan's record with 67 goals in 116 international matches. Salah comes to the World Cup as a free agent as his contract with Liverpool ended at the end of May; he had spent the March international team period with Trezeguet due to injury. Egypt lost to Senegal in the semi-final at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. CAF completed the qualifying process by beating Djibouti 6-0 (Salah four goals) at the opening. 17 players of the squad — eight players at Al Ahly — play in Egyptian clubs. Egypt signs its fourth World Cup participation after 1934, 1990 and 2018 in tournament history but has never won a World Cup match in its history.

• Goalkeepers: Mohamed El Shenawy (Al Ahly), Mostafa Shobeir (Al Ahly), El Mahdy Soliman (Pyramids)
• Defenders: Mohamed Hany (Al Ahly), Tarek Alaa (ZED FC), Hamdy Fathy (Al-Wakrah), Rami Rabia (Al Ain), Yasser Ibrahim (Al Ahly), Hossam Abdelmaguid (Zamalek), Mohamed Abdelmonem (Nice), Ahmed Fotouh (Zamalek), Karim Hafez (Pyramids)
• Midfielders: Marwan Attia (Al Ahly), Mohanad Lasheen (Pyramids), Nabil Emad "Donga" (Al Najma), Mahmoud Saber (ZED FC), Ahmed "Zizo" Sayed (Al Ahly), Emam Ashour (Al Ahly), Mostafa "Ziko" (Pyramids), Mahmoud "Trezeguet" Hassan (Al Ahly — qualifying process hero), Ibrahim Adel (FC Nordsjælland), Haissem Hassan (Real Oviedo)
• Forwards: Mohamed Salah (free agent — captain, 67 international goals, 116 caps), Omar Marmoush (Manchester City), Hamza Abdelkarim (Barcelona B — young star)

🇮🇷 Iran (Manager: Amir Ghalenoei) Ghalenoei, one of the most successful managers in Iran Pro League history at Esteghlal, Sepahan and Tractor, came to the head of the national team for the second time in 2023 after 2007. Team Melli completed the AFC third round group qualifications in first place and pocketed the World Cup ticket early with a draw with Uzbekistan on March 25, 2025 — became the first team from Asia to go to the World Cup. In the qualifying process, it got 11 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss in 16 matches; scored 35 goals and conceded 12. Captain and team's top scorer Mehdi Taremi recorded 10 goals in qualifiers; the 33-year-old striker playing for Olympiacos is in third place in national team history with 56 international goals (Ali Daei first with 108 international goals). Sardar Azmoun was not included in the squad due to a dispute with the federation. Iran is going to its seventh and fourth consecutive World Cup in tournament history; was eliminated in the group every time.

• Goalkeepers: Alireza Beiranvand (Tractor FC), Seyed Hossein Hosseini (Sepahan), Payam Niazmand (Persepolis)
• Defenders: Danial Eiri (Malavan), Ehsan Hajsafi (Sepahan — 36, former captain), Saleh Hardani (Esteghlal), Hossein Kanaani (Persepolis), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Tractor FC — 37, oldest in squad), Milad Mohammadi (Persepolis), Ali Nemati (Foolad FC), Ramin Rezaeian (Foolad FC)
• Midfielders: Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Saeid Ezatolahi (Shabab Al Ahli), Mehdi Ghaedi (Al-Nasr), Saman Ghoddos (Ittihad Kalba), Mohammad Ghorbani (Al-Wahda), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (FC Dender), Mohammad Mohebi (Rostov), Amir Mohammad Razzaghinia (Esteghlal — 20, youngest in squad), Mehdi Torabi (Tractor FC), Aria Yousefi (Sepahan)
• Forwards: Ali Alipour (Persepolis), Dennis Dargahi (Standard Liège), Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh (Tractor FC), Mehdi Taremi (Olympiacos — captain, 33, 10 goals in qualifiers), Shahriar Moghanlou (Ittihad Kalba)

🇳🇿 New Zealand (Manager: Darren Bazeley) Former Watford and Wolves defender Darren Bazeley has been at the head of the national team since 2023. New Zealand signs its third World Cup participation in history after 1982 and 2010. In 2010, despite the elimination of the group with three draws with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay, it had been the only unbeaten team in the tournament. This time the All Whites, who took advantage of the direct cup quota newly granted to Oceania, grabbed the ticket by beating New Caledonia 3-0 at Auckland Eden Park on March 24, 2025. 85th in FIFA rankings — the lowest-ranked team of the tournament. Captain Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest) is the team's top scorer with 45 goals in 88 international matches and the joint most-capped player. With the 36-year-old defender Tommy Smith and Wood, going to the World Cup again as the only names left from the 2010 squad.

• Goalkeepers: Max Crocombe, Alex Paulsen (Bournemouth), Michael Woud
• Defenders: Tyler Bindon (Reading), Michael Boxall (Minnesota United), Liberato Cacace (Empoli), Francis de Vries, Callan Elliot, Tim Payne, Nando Pijnaker (Sligo Rovers), Tommy Smith (Braintree Town — 36, from 2010 WC squad), Finn Surman (Portland Timbers)
• Midfielders: Lachlan Bayliss (Newcastle Jets — born in Australia, national team debut in March 2026), Joe Bell (Viking), Matt Garbett, Ben Old (St. Mirren), Alex Rufer, Sarpreet Singh, Marko Stamenic (Olympiacos), Ryan Thomas
• Forwards: Kosta Barbarouses, Eli Just (Aalborg), Callum McCowatt, Jesse Randall, Ben Waine (Plymouth Argyle), Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest — captain, 34, 45 international goals — all-time top scorer)

Group G Fixtures (Local Time)

Matchday 1 — Monday, June 15, 2026

• Belgium vs Egypt | Lumen Field, Seattle | 15:00 (local PT)
• Iran vs New Zealand | SoFi Stadium, Inglewood (Los Angeles) | 21:00 (local PT)

Matchday 2 — Sunday, June 21, 2026

• Belgium vs Iran | SoFi Stadium, Inglewood (Los Angeles) | 12:00 (local PT)
• New Zealand vs Egypt | BC Place, Vancouver | 18:00 (local PT)

Matchday 3 — Friday, June 26, 2026

• Egypt vs Iran | Lumen Field, Seattle | 20:00 (local PT)
• New Zealand vs Belgium | BC Place, Vancouver | 20:00 (local PT)

The group winner and runner-up will advance directly to the round of 32, while the third-placed team will be evaluated based on the performance of the third-place teams of other groups. The 8 best third-place teams will also join the round of 32.

Europe and Turkey Times

Monday, June 15, 2026

• Belgium - Egypt: 00:00 CEST (June 16) | 01:00 TST (June 16)
• Iran - New Zealand: 06:00 CEST (June 16) | 07:00 TST (June 16)

Sunday, June 21, 2026

• Belgium - Iran: 21:00 CEST | 22:00 TST
• New Zealand - Egypt: 03:00 CEST (June 22) | 04:00 TST (June 22)

Friday, June 26, 2026

• Egypt - Iran: 05:00 CEST (June 27) | 06:00 TST (June 27)
• New Zealand - Belgium: 05:00 CEST (June 27) | 06:00 TST (June 27)

Image: www.fox4news.com