Australia is through to the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos secured a draw against Paraguay in their final Group D match, earning enough points to finish second in the group and book a place in the Round of 32.

Before the match kicked off, Opta’s models put Australia’s chances of advancing at somewhere between 91% and 94%.

How Australia got here

The 2026 World Cup operates under a new format that significantly changes the math of group-stage survival. With 48 teams spread across 12 groups, the top two finishers in each group advance automatically, and the best 16 third-placed teams also move on.

Australia’s draw with Paraguay was enough to secure second place in Group D on goal difference. Finishing second means the Socceroos advance directly rather than waiting to see whether a third-place finish would have been good enough among the broader pool of third-placed teams across all 12 groups.

Paraguay saw their own World Cup campaign end with this result. A draw was not enough for them to advance.

FIFA’s crypto footprint at the 2026 tournament

Kraken, the crypto exchange, is an official exchange partner of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Chainlink, the blockchain oracle network, has also signed on in connection with a prediction market product tied to the tournament.

Neither Australia nor Paraguay has announced fan tokens or crypto sponsorships tied to this tournament.

Chainlink’s role in prediction markets is essentially plumbing. It provides verified real-world data to blockchain-based applications, so when someone places a bet on a decentralized prediction platform tied to World Cup outcomes, Chainlink is the mechanism that confirms the actual result on-chain.

What this means for investors watching the sports-crypto intersection

Chiliz’s CHZ token, the backbone of the fan token model, still exists and still powers team-specific fan tokens on the Socios platform. When neither of the teams in a high-profile group-stage match has a meaningful fan token presence, that is a signal worth noting.

Kraken gets brand exposure to a global audience across 48 competing nations. Chainlink gets real-world utility demonstration at one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet.