World Cup Quarter-Finals 2026! Eight teams are left. Four matches stand between the group stage grind and a place in the semi-finals, and for once, the World Cup quarter-finals UK kickoff times are mostly kind to anyone with a job in the morning. Mostly.
Three of the four World Cup Quarter-Finals 2026 ties land at a reasonable evening hour. The fourth doesn’t, and if Argentina goes through, you’re watching that one on caffeine and willpower. Here’s the full schedule, who’s showing what, and where the coverage gaps actually are.
World Cup Quarter-Finals 2026 Schedule: UK Times
All four World Cup Quarter-Finals 2026 matches are played across four US venues between July 9 and July 12.
Thursday, July 9: France vs Morocco Kick-off: 9 pm BST, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough Channel: ITV1 / STV
France arrives unbeaten through five matches. Morocco knocked out the Netherlands in the round of 32 and have looked composed doing it. The two sides met at this same stage in 2022, when France won 2-0 on their way to the final. Different squads now, same stakes.
Friday, July 10: Spain vs Belgium Kick-off: 8pm BST, SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles Channel: BBC One
The earliest kick-off of the round and the only one on the BBC. Spain have cruised through their group and the knockouts without conceding much. Belgium needed extra time to see off Senegal in the round of 32, so on paper, this looks like the tougher route for them.
Saturday, July 11: Norway vs England Kick-off: 10pm BST, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Channel: ITV1 / STV
England’s biggest game of the summer so far, and it kicks off at 10pm on a Saturday night. Not brutal, but late enough that anyone with plans the next morning will feel it. Norway have been the surprise package of the knockouts, beating Brazil to get here.
Sunday, July 12: Argentina vs Switzerland Kick-off: 2am BST, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Channel: ITV1 / STV
This is the one. A 2am kick-off on a Sunday morning, live on ITV1 and ITVX. If you’re watching Argentina go for a fourth-round knockout tie live, you’re either staying up or setting an alarm most people would reserve for a flight. There’s no way around the time difference here; Kansas City sits six hours behind the UK, and a knockout match doesn’t move for anyone’s sleep schedule.
The BBC and ITV Split, and Where the 4K Gap Hits
Three of the four quarter-finals are on ITV1 and STV. Only one, Spain vs Belgium, is on the BBC. That split matters beyond just which remote you reach for.
BBC iPlayer is currently the only place to watchWorld Cup Quarter-Finals 2026p matches in genuine Ultra HD in the UK. ITVX doesn’t offer a 4K stream, whatever some guides have claimed. So Spain vs Belgium is the one quarterfinal UK viewers can watch in 4K. France vs Morocco, Norway vs England, and Argentina vs Switzerland, all three, are ITV fixtures, and none of them will be available in Ultra HD through normal broadcast channels.
That’s not a knock on ITV’s picture quality. Full HD over ITV1 or ITVX still looks good on most setups. But if you’ve built a home viewing setup around 4K and you were hoping to watch England’s quarter-final in Ultra HD, it isn’t happening through the free-to-air route this round.
Coverage is free-to-air across the board, and there’s no getting around that BBC and ITV between them hold the UK broadcasting rights for this tournament, same as every World Cup since 1966. Nothing here changes that. What changes is how and where people actually watch once the match starts, especially at 2am, and especially on a phone or a second screen because the living room TV’s already off for the night.
Watch World Cup Quarter-Finals 2026 Without the Buffering
The France, Norway, and Argentina fixtures all land in the evening-to-overnight window, and that’s exactly when UK broadband tends to strain hardest. Everyone’s home, everyone’s streaming something, and match night traffic spikes right when you need a stable connection the most.
If you’ve had a stream drop mid-match before, on any platform, it’s usually a router or bandwidth issue rather than the broadcaster’s fault. We’ve put together a full breakdown of what causes IPTV buffering on UK connections and how to fix it before kick-off, worth a read if the 2am Argentina game is the one you don’t want to lose signal on. Fix IPTV buffering on UK broadband →
Watching on a Firestick, Smart TV, or Second Screen
Most households aren’t watching four quarter-finals over four days on one screen in the living room. The 2am Argentina game especially tends to end up on a phone, a tablet, or a Firestick tucked in the bedroom rather than the main TV, since not everyone wants to keep the whole house up for a game that kicks off after midnight.
BBC iPlayer and ITVX both run on Fire TV, Android TV, and most smart TV platforms without much fuss, so device compatibility isn’t the issue. The issue is almost always the same one: a home network that’s fine for one person streaming in HD but starts dropping frames the moment three or four devices are pulling a stream at once during peak hours. That’s precisely the window all three ITV quarter-finals fall into.
Semi-Finals: What’s Next
Win your quarter-final and you’re through to one of two semi-finals, both kicking off at 8pm BST.
Tuesday, July 14: the winners of France/Morocco and Spain/Belgium meet in Arlington. Wednesday, July 15: the winners of Norway/England and Argentina/Switzerland meet in Atlanta.
Both semi-final slots kick off at a civilised 8pm BST, which is more than can be said for that Argentina tie.
The third-place playoff follows on Saturday, July 18, and the final is Sunday, July 19 at MetLife Stadium, kicking off at 8pm BST and shown live on both BBC and ITV.
What time is the England World Cup quarter-final kick-off?
Norway vs England kicks off at 10pm BST on Saturday, July 11, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. It’s live on ITV1 and STV.
Which World Cup quarter-final is on the BBC?
Spain vs Belgium, on Friday, July 10, kicking off at 8pm BST. It’s also the only quarter-final available in 4K, via BBC iPlayer.
Why is the Argentina quarter-final at 2am UK time?
The match is played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, which sits six hours behind the UK. A local evening kick-off there lands in the early hours here. It’s a fixed part of watching a US-hosted tournament from the UK, not something broadcasters can shift.
Can I watch the World Cup quarter-finals in 4K?
Only one: Spain vs Belgium, streamed in Ultra HD through BBC iPlayer. ITVX doesn’t currently support 4K, so France vs Morocco, Norway vs England, and Argentina vs Switzerland are only available in standard broadcast quality.
Are all the World Cup quarter-finals free to watch in the UK?
Yes. Every quarter-final is free-to-air across BBC One, ITV1, STV, BBC iPlayer, and ITVX. No subscription is required for any of the four matches.