(Football news) The 2026 World Cup will take place across three nations, namely USA, Mexico and Canada featuring 16 additional teams in mid June 2026. The tournament will take place in 11 US cities, along with three venues in Mexico and two in Canada which will be in stark contrast to the Qatar World Cup, which took place in just one city: Doha.
It will be the first time in history that a FIFA World Cup will feature 48 teams instead of 32 which means more money will be generated through sponsorships, merchandising, ticket sales and broadcast revenues with FIFA expected to generate $11bn over the four-year cycle up to December 2026.
With football (or soccer) becoming increasingly popular in North America, FIFA is projecting 5.5 million fans at the tournament, a stark contrast to 3.6 million in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. FIFA have claimed that the majority profits generated from the tournament will be redistributed for the development of football around the world which will also include the expansion of women’s football.
In 2026, there will be a minimum of 17 teams from across the two confederations (which could rise to 19) depending on the results of the inter-continental playoffs for the finals. At least six Concacaf teams will qualify for the World Cup which include hosts USA, Mexico and Canada.
All the venues for the 2026 World Cups have already been built with the majority of the big capacity stadiums being used by the NFL teams. Some venues will be upgraded for the World Cup as artificial turf is not permitted by FIFA.
80 matches will be played across the tournament with the USA hosting 60 matches including every game from quarter-final onwards while Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each. The USA will not use any of the stadiums from the 1994 World Cup while Mexico will use the iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which will be the only venue repeated from the 1986 World Cup.
United States
New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)
Los Angeles (SoFi Stadium)
Dallas (AT&T Stadium)
San Francisco Bay Area (Levi’s Stadium)
Miami (Hard Rock Stadium)
Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Seattle (Lumen Field)
Houston (NRG Stadium)
Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field)
Kansas City, Missouri (Arrowhead Stadium)
Boston/Foxborough (Gillette Stadium)
Canada
Toronto (BMO Field)
Vancouver (BC Place Stadium)
Mexico
Guadalajara (Estadio Akron)
Mexico City (Azteca Stadium)
Monterrey (BBVA Bancomer Stadium)
While the structure of the tournament is yet to be finalised at the FIFA Council in 2023, they are expected to go with 16 groups of three teams with each team playing two group games instead of three and the first two qualifying for Round of 32.
However, Gianni Infantino has said that they are reconsidering that plan after the success of Qatar’s World Cup. He said “I have to say after this World Cup, and the success of the groups of four, we have to revisit or re-discuss the format whether we go for 16 groups of three or 12 groups of four.” There is also a possibility of 12 groups of 4 while another possibility is to not allow games to end in a draw with a penalty shootout after 90 minutes.
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