Pleasure is already constructing for the following version of the World Cup, which might be rolling round in summer time 2026 with three international locations sharing the internet hosting duties for the primary time – the Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Argentina might be trying to defend the trophy they gained in a scintillating ultimate towards France in 2022, whereas the competitors might be expanded from 32 groups to a monster 48.
That makes the twenty third version of the World Cup the largest and most bold of all time. This is every part that you must know concerning the competitors – and be sure to bookmark this web page and maintain checking again occasionally as we maintain it updated with all the most recent information and developments.
The place will the World Cup 2026 happen?
The USA might be house turf at a World Cup for the primary time in 32 years (Picture credit score: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Photographs)
The place will the World Cup 2026 happen?
In one thing of a U-turn from FIFA, the World Cup 2026 might be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the USA. FIFA had not been eager on having a couple of nation as hosts because the 2002 World Cup, which was shared between Japan and South Korea.
All three international locations thought-about bidding individually however determined in 2017 to workforce up. With UEFA and AFC nations not allowed to bid (as a result of they hosted the final two), the one rival bid got here from Morocco, with the North American bid successful the vote by 134 votes to 65.
The USA hosted the World Cup in 1994, whereas Mexico hosted in 1970 and 1986 (after they stepped in after supposed hosts Colombia dropped out). Canada has by no means hosted a males’s World Cup, however did host the Ladies’s World Cup in 2015
Match format
What number of groups might be on the World Cup 2026?
An unprecedented 48 groups will participate within the 2026 version of the World Cup, which suggests important alterations to each the group stage and knockout phases.
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The World Cup has been performed in the identical fundamental 32-team format since 1998, with one of the best two sides from eight teams of 4 going via to a knockout spherical of 16.
Now, it should be 12 teams of 4, with the highest two sides from every group going via to a knockout spherical of 32 – alongside the eight best-performing third-placed sides from the teams.
Should you’ve adopted the previous few Euros – or are sufficiently old to recollect the times of 24-team World Cups – then it is successfully that, however twice the scale.
Dates and fixtures
The World Cup dates are set already (Picture credit score: Marvin Ibo Guengoer – GES Sportfoto/Getty Photographs)
What are the dates for the World Cup 2026?
The World Cup 2026 will happen between June 11 2026 and July 19 2026.
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World Cup 2026 schedule
Group stage
June 11 – June 27 2026
Spherical of 32
June 28 – July 3 2026
Spherical of 16
July 4 – July 7 2026
Quarter-finals
July 9 – July 11 2026
Semi-finals
July 14 – July 15 2026
Third-place play-off
July 18 2026
Last
July 19 2026
Certified international locations
Solely three international locations are set for the match to date (Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
Which international locations have certified for the World Cup 2026?
All three co-hosts have been granted automated qualification to the match, and are up to now the one sides to be confirmed.
The opposite 45 slots might be stuffed as follows, with the six sides who qualify for the play-offs set to compete in an inter-confederation mini-tournament with two World Cup locations up for grabs.
AFC (Asia): Eight direct qualification slots, plus one play-off slot
CAF (Africa): 9 direct qualification slots, plus one play-off slot
CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean): On high of the three co-hosts, three direct qualification slots plus two play-off slots
CONMEBOL (South America): Six direct qualification slots, plus one play-off slot
OFC (Oceania): One direct qualification slot, plus one play-off slot
UEFA (Europe): 16 direct qualification slots, no play-off slots
Why do not Argentina get automated qualification as reigning World Cup winners?
FIFA used to offer automated qualification to the reigning World Cup winners, doing so from 1938 to 2002 – however they did away with that from 2006.
To this point no reigning champions have but didn’t qualify via the same old course of, nonetheless, and Argentina at present sit fairly on the high of the CONMEBOL qualification rankings.
Teams
What are the teams for World Cup 2026?
We do not know but, and will not till the draw is made. No date has but been set for that, nevertheless it’s anticipated to be someday in late 2025.
We do know, nonetheless, that Mexico might be in Group A, Canada might be in Group B, and the USA might be in Group D.
Kick-off occasions
What are the kick-off occasions for the World Cup 2026?
Though the match dates and venues for all 104 video games have been introduced, the precise kick-off occasions are but to be revealed – and are usually not anticipated to be till after the ultimate draw for the group stage has been made in late 2025.
There might be as much as 4 timeslots to fill per day in the course of the group stage, due to the prolonged format, which might imply European viewers find yourself with video games at reasonably unsociable hours.
If we’re earlier examples within the US and Mexico: all the video games at Mexico 86 have been performed at both noon or 4pm native time, however there have been in fact solely half as many video games to slot in. USA 94 in the meantime had an 11:30am (Central time) kick-off time for a handful of video games, which for US West Coast viewers was 9:30am and for UK viewers was 5:30pm.
Stadiums
These are the World Cup 2026 stadiums:
Canada:
BC Place, Vancouver, BC: 54,500
BMO Area, Toronto, ON: 45,736
Mexico:
Estadio Azteca, Mexico Metropolis: 87,523
Estadio BBCA, Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon: 53,500
Estadio Karon, Zapopan, Jalisco: 49,850
United States:
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ: 82,500
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX: 80,000
Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas Metropolis, MI: 76,416
NRG Stadium, Houston, TX: 72,220
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA: 71,000
SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA: 70,240
Lincoln Monetary Area, Philadelphia, PA: 69,796
Lumen Area, Seattle, WA: 69,000
Levis Stadium, Santa Clara, CA: 68,500
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA: 65,878
Exhausting Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL: 64,767
World Cup 2026 ultimate
The place is the World Cup 2026 ultimate?
Though Dallas’ AT&T Stadium was initially anticipated to win the bid to host the ultimate, the World Cup 2026 ultimate will really be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, simply ten miles exterior New York Metropolis.
The stadium has beforehand hosted the 2014 Tremendous Bowl ultimate and the 2016 Copa America ultimate, in addition to WWE WrestleMania in 2013 and 2019.
Primarily an American soccer stadium, the Metlife may have seats specifically eliminated for the World Cup to make it broad sufficient to go well with FIFA’s advisable pitch dimensions.
Tickets
When will World Cup 2026 tickets be on sale?
We do not know but – however you may register your curiosity through the FIFA web site already.
They need to then, in principle, get in contact with you when details about ticket gross sales turns into obtainable.
Beforehand, tickets have been obtainable through the FAs of the competing international locations, through normal sale, and – in case you’re very jammy – within the type of sponsor tickets.
Official match ball
What’s the official match ball on the World Cup 2026?
An official match ball for the World Cup 2026 is but to be unveiled.
Official mascots
What’s the mascot for the World Cup 2026?
Regardless of some spurious rumours that did the rounds a few years in the past, no mascot has but been introduced for the World Cup 2026. It’s attainable we might get a couple of, given there are three hosts at play.
