Group Stage Complete: The Eight Best Third-Place Teams Are Being Calculated Right Now

[Sandworm81]

The group stage is now complete or nearly complete and the calculation of which eight third-place teams advance to the Round of 32 is underway. The expanded 48-team format produces twelve groups of four. Top two from each group advance automatically. Then the eight best third-place finishers from all twelve groups advance. Comparison is on points then goal difference then goals scored then head-to-head then fair play. Scotland's fate is one of many still being decided. Several groups produced three or four teams on similar records making the calculation genuinely complicated. Some teams will advance having won only once. Others will go home with three points and bad luck on goal difference. The next 24 hours of announcement and calculation is going to be dramatic.