World Cup predictions: Picks from DraftKings Nation staff for group winners, knockout teams, champion, more

The 2022 FIFA World Cup gets underway Sunday with host nation Qatar opening group play against Ecuador. The group stage will continue through December 2 and the knockout stage will begin with the round of 16 starting December 3.

We've brought together a handful of the DK Nation staff to make picks for each round and also select award winners. There will be a scoring system to track every panelist's progress through the competition and we'll see who finishes with the most points at the end of the World Cup. Here's a look at our panel.

David Fucillo – Editor in Chief

Ben Zweiman – Senior Managing Editor

Collin Sherwin – Deputy College Sports Editor

Chinmay Vaidya – Sports Editor

Nick Simon – Staff Writer

Grace McDermott – Staff Writer

Teddy Ricketson – Staff Writer

Pete Hernandez – Newsdesk Writer

Ryan Sanders – Newsdesk Writer

Spencer Limbach – Newsdesk Writer

Here's the how the scoring system will work. The 16 teams advancing to the knockout round are assigned seeds, with the group winner being 1 and the runner-up being 2. For example, the winner of Group A will be A1. Each panelist has selected 16 teams by seed. There will be one point awarded for each correct team picked, and one additional point for the correct seed.

From the round of 16, there will be two points awarded for every correct team in the quarterfinal round. One additional point will be given for correct placement in the bracket. From there, panelists will get four points for every correct team in the semifinal round with two additional points for correct placement. Each correct finalist will add eight points and picking a correct winner will be worth 16 points.

Here's a look at how our staff sees the group stage, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final playing out.

Group Stage Predictions

  
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