Deadline & Buy-In
- The deadline to submit your picks and buy-in is one hour before kickoff (2PM ET) for the first match on June 11, 2026.
- The buy-in is $25 per person, sent via Venmo to @conorgill (or, if you're in Europe, by Revolut to @conorrgill) with your predicted champion as the payment tag.
- One bracket per person.
Scoring
Every stage of the tournament is worth the same total of 32 points, split among the teams that advance. In other words, the per-team value doubles each round. Points are awarded for each team you correctly predicted to reach a given round (advancement-based, regardless of the exact path):
| Round | Points per correct pick | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Round of 32 | 1 | 32 |
| Round of 16 | 2 | 32 |
| Quarterfinals | 4 | 32 |
| Semifinals | 8 | 32 |
| Final | 16 | 32 |
| Champion | 32 | 32 |
| Perfect bracket | 192 |
Golden Boot
The Golden Boot competition does not count toward your bracket score. A side pot is split among the entrants who correctly pick the Golden Boot winner. If no one correctly guesses the winner, the entrant(s) whose pick scored the most goals will win or split the Golden Boot pot.
Prize Pool
The prize pool is distributed as follows:
| Place | Share of pool |
|---|---|
| 1st place | 40% |
| 2nd place | 20% |
| 3rd place | 15% |
| 4th place | 10% |
| 5th place | 5% |
| Golden Boot | 10% |
Tiebreakers
If bracket points are the same, placement goes to a tiebreaker: the total number of goals scored throughout the tournament (including extra time, but not penalty shootouts). The guess closest to the actual number is given the edge.
In the extremely unlikely event that the tiebreaker is also the same, the sum of the pot is split among those tied for that position. For example, if two people tied for 1st have the same bracket points and the same tiebreaker guess, they would each receive 30% of the pool: (40% + 20%) ÷ 2 = 30%.