WC 2026 · Forecasting Oxford Football Forecasting
🇨🇴

Colombia

CONMEBOL Group K
4.1% Champion probability ±0.06 MC-SE
Coach
Néstor Lorenzo foreign · Argentine
Elo (model)
1,982 world 6th
Squad value
€382M
Power → Reality
8th 8th +0.03 pp · neutral draw

Fig. D1 Fixture-aware · 100k sims

Colombia — stage progression

Round of 32: 91.43% (95% MC 91.25%–91.60%; MC-SE ±0.09 pts) Round of 32 reach 91.4% ±0.09 Round of 16: 57.88% (95% MC 57.57%–58.18%; MC-SE ±0.16 pts) Round of 16 reach 57.9% ±0.16 Quarter-final: 33.00% (95% MC 32.71%–33.29%; MC-SE ±0.15 pts) Quarter-final reach 33.0% ±0.15 Semi-final: 17.63% (95% MC 17.39%–17.86%; MC-SE ±0.12 pts) Semi-final reach 17.6% ±0.12 Final: 8.86% (95% MC 8.68%–9.03%; MC-SE ±0.09 pts) Final reach 8.9% ±0.09 Champion: 4.09% (95% MC 3.97%–4.22%; MC-SE ±0.06 pts) Champion reach 4.1% ±0.06

On the central forecast, Colombia more likely than not reaches the Round of 16 (58%). Champion probability is 4.1% ± 0.06 pts.

Source · Oxford Football Forecasting model
Group K Confed Advance (top 2) Reach R32
1🇵🇹PortugalUEFA64.4%93.8%
2🇨🇴ColombiaCONMEBOL57.9%91.4%
3🇨🇩Congo DRCAF10.8%40.2%
4🇺🇿UzbekistanAFC8.4%36.4%

Source · Oxford Football Forecasting model

Bracket position Half 1 · Quadrant 3

Earliest possible meetings

Collision = the earliest round the bracket wiring could pit Colombia against that side. Full bracket & collision matrix →

Match 24 · 2026-06-18 · Mexico City Stadium away
Colombia Uzbekistan
66% win 23.4% draw 10.6% loss
Most likely 1–0 (16.0%) λ 1.79–0.58 Over 2.5 42% · BTTS 37%
Match 48 · 2026-06-24 · Guadalajara Stadium home
Colombia Congo DR
61.6% win 26.4% draw 12% loss
Most likely 1–0 (17.9%) λ 1.58–0.56 Over 2.5 36% · BTTS 35%
Match 71 · 2026-06-27 · Miami Stadium home
Colombia Portugal
31.9% win 31% draw 37.1% loss
Most likely 1–1 (14.4%) λ 1.06–1.17 Over 2.5 39% · BTTS 46%
How a match forecast is built

Each pairing is scored by the ensemble (Dixon-Coles bivariate-Poisson, the Bayesian hierarchical model and the global LightGBM-Poisson, log-pooled), producing an 11×11 scoreline grid that is marginalised into win/draw/loss, expected goals (λ), over/under 2.5 and both-teams-to-score. These are the same distributions the tournament simulator consumes, oriented here to Colombia. Knockout fixtures are not shown — their occupants are still probabilistic, so there is no single pairing to forecast yet.

Fig. D2 Relative to the 48-team median

Colombia vs the field

Elo rating: 1982 vs field median 1780 (1.11× the field) Elo rating 1982 med 1780 Recent NT form: 1.67 ppg vs field median 1.87 ppg (0.89× the field) Recent NT form 1.67 ppg med 1.87 ppg Squad value: €382M vs field median €286M (1.34× the field) Squad value €382M med €286M Squad form (global): 0.285 vs field median 0.211 (1.35× the field) Squad form (global) 0.285 med 0.211 Fitness readiness: 0.809 vs field median 0.707 (1.14× the field) Fitness readiness 0.809 med 0.707 Familiarity / chemistry: 0.006 vs field median 0.015 (0.40× the field) Familiarity / chemistry 0.006 med 0.015 Experience (mean caps): 30 vs field median 25 (1.19× the field) Experience (mean caps) 30 med 25

Read each row as a multiple of the field median: dots to the right of the dashed line are above-field, to the left below. Raw values are labelled on the right so the comparison is transparent.

Source · Oxford Football Forecasting model

Fig. D3 Bayesian projection residual g

Colombia on the decoupling axis

aligned (0) ← record > squad price squad valued > record →

g = +0.47 ± 0.05: the squad is valued above its record — the transfer market rates this side above what its results have earned.

Source · Oxford Football Forecasting model
What g means — and its limits

g is the residual from regressing a team’s current squad market value on its history-based strength in the Bayesian hierarchical model. Positive g means the squad is valued above what the team’s record predicts; negative means the record outruns the squad’s price (the side achieves more than its market value implies). Regressed on out-of-sample success the slope is positive — squad-rich sides go a touch further — but not statistically significant at n = 3 tournaments, so treat a single team’s g as a descriptive read, not a hard prediction. The full decoupling essay →

26players
27.6mean age
30mean caps
58%in a top-5 league
24distinct clubs
2largest club bloc
# Player Pos Club League Club min Gls Caps NT gls
1David OspinaGKAtlético NacionalPrimera A −0.38z3,55401300
2Daniel MuñozDFCrystal PalacePremier League +2.21z3,8865463
3Jhon LucumíDFBolognaSerie A +1.70z3,5911371
4Santiago AriasDFIndependienteno club data680
5Kevin CastañoMFRiver PlateLiga Profesional Argentina +0.10z3,1741250
6Richard RíosMFBenficaPrimeira Liga +1.14z3,4857322
7Luis DíazFWBayern MunichBundesliga +1.84z4,065267422
8Jorge CarrascalMFFlamengoSerie A +1.03z1,3173242
9Jhon CórdobaFWKrasnodarPremier League +0.27z2,61817216
10James Rodríguez (captain)MFMinnesota United FCno club data12631
11Jhon AriasMFPalmeirasno club data386
12Camilo VargasGKAtlasLiga MX +0.22z2,9950420
13Yerry MinaDFCagliariSerie A +1.70z2,2592548
14Gustavo PuertaDFRacing SantanderSegunda División +2.13z2,723361
15Juan PortillaMFAthletico Paranaenseno club data100
16Jefferson LermaMFCrystal PalacePremier League +2.21z2,5570655
17Johan MojicaDFMallorcaLa Liga +2.13z2,7370451
18Willer DittaDFCruz AzulLiga MX +0.22z4,815050
19Cucho HernándezFWReal BetisLa Liga +2.13z3,1271592
20Juan Fernando QuinteroMFRiver PlateLiga Profesional Argentina +0.10z9431496
21Jaminton CampazFWRosario CentralLiga Profesional Argentina +0.10z2,1905101
22Deiver MachadoDFNantesLigue 1 +1.70z1,0340150
23Davinson SánchezDFGalatasaraySüper Lig +0.49z3,5342794
24Álvaro MonteroGKVélez SarsfieldLiga Profesional Argentina +0.10z9503120
25Luis SuárezFWSporting CPPrimeira Liga +1.14z4,08935125
26Andrés GómezFWVasco da GamaSerie A +1.03z1,427182

Source · Official squad announcements · API-Football (global club coverage). 4 of 26 players have no club season matched in API-Football — shown as “— no club data”, not imputed. Form coverage for this squad: 85%.

Diaspora in the hosts

913,282

17.0 per 1,000 of home population

Host-language familiarity

Shared

primary language Spanish · spoken in a host

Climate adaptation gap

+2.4°C

home-vs-venue heat differential

Venue extremes

42°C

peak heat index · altitude up to 2,287 m

Travel

2h

max time-zone shift · nearest venue 2,452 km

Source · UN DESA international migrant stock · US Census Bureau · Open-Meteo & venue records

Fig. D4 eloratings.net method · year-end values

Colombia — Elo since 1957

2064 world #6
Colombia Qualified-field median

Colombia ends the series at 2064 Elo, the world’s 6th-ranked side — above the qualified-field median.

Source · eloratings.net
Which Elo is this?

This line is the public eloratings.net series (year-end ratings), which terminates exactly at the current rating and world rank shown on the marker. It is a different number from the Elo shown in the header band (a panel-normalised rating used inside the forecast); the two are ~0.99 correlated but on different scales. We keep them distinct rather than blend them.

85% Squad club-form coverage Share of this squad with a matched club season feeding the global form layer.
85% Fitness-readiness coverage Where below 100%, part of the fitness signal is imputed by the de-biasing layer.
n = 3 Out-of-sample tournaments The model is validated on three held-out World Cups; it matches the market, it does not beat it.

Validated on n=3 held-out tournaments; coverage below 1.0 means part of this squad's club-form/fitness is imputed (the global de-biasing layer). For Colombia, 4 of 26 players are shown as “— no club data”. Full validation, calibration & conformal coverage →