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2026 FIFA World Cup

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2026 FIFA World Cup
Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026
Coupe du Monde FIFA 2026
We Are 26
Somos 26
Nous Sommes 26
Tournament details
Host countriesCanada
Mexico
United States
DatesJune TBD – July 19[1]
Teams48 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)16 (in 16 host cities)
2022
2030

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will take place from a yet to be determined date in June to July 19, 2026, and will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The tournament will be the first hosted by three nations.[2][3] Argentina are the defending champions.

This tournament will be the first to include 48 teams, expanded from 32.[4] The United 2026 bid beat a rival bid by Morocco during a final vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow. It will be the first World Cup since 2002 to be hosted by more than one nation. With its past hosting of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments, Mexico will become the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times. The United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994, whereas it will be Canada's first time hosting or co-hosting the men's tournament. The event will return to its traditional northern summer schedule after the 2022 edition in Qatar which was held in November and December of that year.

Format

For the first time the FIFA World Cup will include 48 teams, an expansion by 16 compared with the previous seven tournaments. The teams will be split in 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top two of each group and the eight best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32, as approved by the FIFA Council on March 14, 2023.[5] This is set to be the first expansion, and change of any kind, in the competition's format since 1998.

The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. The tournament is expected to last between 38 and 40 days, an increase from 32 days of the 2014 and 2018 editions.[6][7] Each team will still play three group matches.[8][9] The final matchday at club level for players named in the final squads is May 24, 2026; clubs have to release their players by May 25, with exceptions granted to players participating in continental club competition finals up until May 30. The 56 days of the combined rest, release and tournament periods remains identical to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 tournaments.[5]

The expansion to 48 teams had already been approved on January 10, 2017, when it was decided that the tournament would include 16 groups of 3 teams, and 80 matches in total, with the top two teams of each group progressing to a round of 32.[4][10] Under this format, the maximum number of games per team would have remained at seven, but each team would have played one fewer group match than before. The tournament still would have been completed within 32 days.[11] This format was chosen over three other proposals, ranging from 40 to 48 teams, from 76 to 88 matches, and from one to four minimum matches per team.[12][13][14][15]

Critics of this format argued that the use of three-team groups with two teams progressing significantly increased the risk of collusion between teams.[16] This prompted FIFA to suggest that penalty shoot-outs may be used to prevent draws in the group stage,[17] although even then some risk of collusion would remain, and a possibility would emerge of teams deliberately losing shootouts to eliminate a rival.[16] In view of such concerns, FIFA continued considering alternative formats.[18]

The general idea of expanding the tournament had been suggested as early as 2013 by then-UEFA president Michel Platini,[19][20] and also in 2016 by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.[21] Opponents of the proposal argued that the number of games played was already at an unacceptable level[22] and that the expansion would dilute the quality of the games,[23][24] and they also saw political reasons behind the decision, accusing Infantino of using the promise of bringing more countries to the World Cup to win his election.[25]

Host selection

The six confederations

The FIFA Council went back and forth between 2013 and 2017 on limitations within hosting rotation based on the continental confederations. Originally, it was set that bids to be host would not be allowed from countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments. It was temporarily changed to only prohibit countries belonging to the confederation that hosted the previous World Cup from bidding to host the following tournament,[26] before the rule was changed back to its prior state of two World Cups. However, the FIFA Council did make an exception to potentially grant eligibility to member associations of the confederation of the second-to-last host of the FIFA World Cup in the event that none of the received bids fulfill the strict technical and financial requirements.[27][28] In March 2017, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that "Europe (UEFA) and Asia (AFC) are excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively."[29] Therefore, the 2026 World Cup could be hosted by one of the remaining four confederations: CONCACAF (North America; last hosted in 1994), CAF (Africa; last hosted in 2010), CONMEBOL (South America; last hosted in 2014), or OFC (Oceania, never hosted before), or potentially by UEFA in case no bid from those four met the requirements.

Co-hosting the FIFA World Cup—which had been banned by FIFA after the 2002 World Cup—was approved for the 2026 World Cup, though not limited to a specific number but instead evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Also for 2026, the FIFA general secretariat, after consultation with the Competitions Committee, had the power to exclude bidders who did not meet the minimum technical requirements to host the competition.[27] In March 2022, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola claimed Mexico's involvement as cohost could have been at risk if the league and the federation had not responded quickly to the Querétaro–Atlas riot between rival fans that left 26 spectators injured and resulted in 14 arrests. Arriola said FIFA was "shocked" by the incident but Infantino was satisfied with the sanctions handed down against Querétaro.[30]

Canada, Mexico, and the United States had all publicly considered bidding for the tournament separately, but the United joint bid was announced on April 10, 2017.[31][32]

Voting results:
Allowed to vote Banned from voting
  Voted for United bid
  Canada–Mexico–United States
  Voted for Moroccan bid
  Morocco
  Voted for neither
  Sanctioned by FIFA
  Abstained from voting
  Not a FIFA member

Voting

The voting took place on June 13, 2018, during the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, and it was opened to all 203 eligible members.[33] The United bid won with 134 valid ballots, while the Morocco bid received 65 valid ballots. Iran voted for the option "None of the bids", while Cuba, Slovenia and Spain abstained from voting.

Nation Vote
Round 1
Canada, Mexico, United States 134
Morocco 65
None of the bids 1
Abstentions 3
Total votes 200
Majority required 101

Qualification

The 2026 World Cup's qualification process has yet to be decided.[34][35][36]

The United Bid personnel anticipated that all three host countries would be awarded automatic berths.[37] On August 31, 2022, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that six CONCACAF teams will qualify for the World Cup, with Canada, Mexico, and the United States automatically qualifying as hosts.[38][39] This was officially confirmed by the FIFA Council on February 14, 2023.[40][41][42]

CONCACAF (3)

Slot allocation

On March 30, 2017, the Bureau of the FIFA Council (composed of the FIFA president and the presidents of each of the six confederations) proposed a slot allocation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The recommendation was submitted for the ratification by the FIFA Council.[34][43]

On May 9, two days before the 67th FIFA Congress, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation in a meeting in Manama, Bahrain. This includes an intercontinental play-off tournament involving six teams to decide the last two FIFA World Cup spots, making a place in intercontinental play-offs a 13 spot in the finals.[44]

Confederation Eligible FIFA members Spots in 2026 finals
(including hosts and intercontinental play-off spots)
Percentage of members with spots in finals Spots in 2006-2022 finals
(excluding hosts, including intercontinental play-off spots)
Change in percentage of slot allocation
AFC 46+1[a] 813 18.1% 4.5 85.2%
CAF 54 913 17.3% 5 86.7%
CONCACAF (hosts) 35 623 19.1% 3.5 90.4%
CONMEBOL 10 613 63.3% 4.5 40.7%
OFC 11 113 12.1% 0.5 166.7%
UEFA 55 16 29.1% 13 23.1%
Total 211+1 48 22.7% 31+1 (hosts) 50%
Notes
  1. ^ The Northern Mariana Islands will be competing in World Cup qualification, as it is used as joint qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

The ratification of slot allocation also gives the OFC a guaranteed berth in the final tournament for the first time in FIFA World Cup history: the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the first tournament in which all six confederations have at least one guaranteed berth.

Play-off tournament

A play-off tournament involving six teams will be held to decide the final two FIFA World Cup berths:[34] the six teams are one team in each confederation except UEFA, and one additional team from the confederation of the host countries (CONCACAF).

Two of the teams will be seeded based on the World Rankings, and they will play-off against the winners of two knockout games between the four unseeded teams for the two FIFA World Cup berths.

The four-game tournament is to be played in one or more of the host countries, and will also be used as a test event for the FIFA World Cup.

Venues

Map
About OpenStreetMaps
Maps: terms of use
1200km
820miles
16
Toronto
15
Philadelphia
14
New York/New Jersey
13
Miami
12
Boston
11
Monterrey
10
Mexico City
9
Kansas City
8
Houston
7
Dallas
6
Atlanta
5
Vancouver
4
Seattle
3
San Francisco Bay Area
2
Los Angeles
1
Guadalajara
Host cities and venues of the 2026 FIFA World Cup

During the bidding process, 41 cities with 43 existing, fully functional venues with regular tenants (except Montreal) and 2 venues under construction submitted to be part of the bid (3 venues in 3 cities in Mexico; 9 venues in 7 cities in Canada; 38 venues in 34 cities in the United States). A first-round elimination cut nine venues and nine cities. A second-round elimination cut an additional nine venues in six cities, while three venues in three cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, and Vancouver) dropped out due to FIFA's unwillingness to discuss financial details.[45] After Montreal dropped out in July 2021 due to lack of provincial funding and support to renovate the Olympic Stadium,[46] Vancouver rejoined the bid as a candidate city in April 2022,[47] bringing the total number to 24 venues, each in its own city or metropolitan area.

On June 16, 2022, the sixteen host cities were announced by FIFA, separated into three geographical divisions: Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Guadalajara (5) in the Western Division; Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Monterrey, and Mexico City (6) in the Central Division; and Toronto, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Miami (5) in the Eastern Division (2 in Canada, 3 in Mexico, and 11 in the United States).[48] Eight of the sixteen chosen stadiums have permanent artificial turf surfaces that are planned to be replaced with grass under the direction of FIFA and a University of TennesseeMichigan State University research team. Four venues (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Vancouver) are indoor stadiums that use retractable roof systems, and are all equipped with climate control.[49] Although there are soccer-specific stadiums in Canada and the United States, the largest dedicated soccer-specific stadium in the U.S., Geodis Park in Nashville, seats 30,000, which falls short of FIFA's minimum of 40,000 (Toronto's candidate venue, which is an MLS stadium, is being expanded from 30,000 to 45,500 for this tournament).[50] However, there are some stadiums, like Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and Lumen Field in Seattle, that are used by both NFL and MLS teams.[51] Although primarily used for gridiron football, with the American stadiums having hosted National Football League (NFL) teams, and Canada's stadiums hosting the Canadian Football League (CFL), all of the Canadian and American stadiums have been used on numerous occasions for soccer and are also designed to host that sport.[52]

Mexico City is the only capital of the three host nations chosen as a venue site, with Ottawa and Washington, D.C., joining Bonn (West Germany, 1974) and Tokyo (Japan, 2002) as the only capital cities not selected to host World Cup matches. Washington was a host city candidate, but combined its bid with nearby Baltimore's due to the poor state of FedExField, which was also unsuccessful. Other cities eliminated from the final hosting list were Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, and Edmonton. Ottawa's candidate venue, TD Place Stadium, was eliminated early on due to insufficient capacity. None of the stadiums used in the 1994 FIFA World Cup will be used in this tournament, and the Azteca is the only stadium being used in this tournament that was used in the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cups.[53]

A † denotes a stadium used for previous men's World Cup tournaments.
A ‡ denotes an indoor stadium with a fixed or retractable roof with interior climate control.
Mexico Mexico City[54] United States New York/New Jersey[54] United States Dallas[54] United States Kansas City[54]
Estadio Azteca MetLife Stadium
(East Rutherford, New Jersey)
AT&T Stadium
(Arlington, Texas)
Arrowhead Stadium
Capacity: 87,523 Capacity: 82,500
(Bid book capacity: 87,157)
Capacity: 80,000
(Bid book capacity: 92,967)
(expandable to 105,000)
Capacity: 76,416
(Bid book capacity: 76,640)
United States Houston[54] United States Atlanta[54] United States Los Angeles[54][55] United States Philadelphia[54]
NRG Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium SoFi Stadium
(Inglewood, California)
Lincoln Financial Field
Capacity: 72,220
(expandable to 80,000)
Capacity: 71,000
(Bid book capacity: 75,000)
(expandable to 83,000)
Capacity: 70,240
(expandable to 100,240)
Capacity: 69,796
(Bid book capacity: 69,328)
United States Seattle[54] United States San Francisco Bay Area[54] United States Boston[54] United States Miami[54]
Lumen Field Levi's Stadium
(Santa Clara, California)
Gillette Stadium
(Foxborough, Massachusetts)
Hard Rock Stadium
(Miami Gardens, Florida)
Capacity: 69,000
(expandable to 72,000)
Capacity: 68,500
(Bid book capacity: 70,909)
(expandable to 75,000)
Capacity: 65,878
(Bid book capacity: 70,000)
Capacity: 64,767
(Bid book capacity: 67,518)
Gillette Stadium
Canada Vancouver[47] Mexico Monterrey[54] Mexico Guadalajara[54] Canada Toronto[54]
BC Place Estadio BBVA
(Guadalupe, Nuevo León)
Estadio Akron
(Zapopan, Jalisco)
BMO Field
Capacity: 54,500 Capacity: 53,500
(Bid book capacity: 53,460)
Capacity: 49,850
(Bid book capacity: 48,071)
Capacity: 30,000
(Expanding to 45,736 for tournament)

Marketing

The official emblem and brand identity was unveiled on May 17, 2023, at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California; its basic form consists of a stacked "26" with the FIFA World Cup Trophy in front of it, but it is designed to be adaptable to different backdrops. Each of the host cities will also have their own brand identities for the tournament, which will be unveiled on May 18.[56] The official theme was also released the same day, though it is still unnamed. One report asserted the reception to the logo on social media had been overwhelmingly negative, with many feeling that the design was either unfinished or uncreative compared to the three previous logos from Brazil, Russia, and Qatar.[57]

Broadcasting rights

On February 12, 2015, FIFA renewed the U.S. and Canadian broadcasting rights contracts for Fox, Telemundo, and CTV/TSN parent company Bell Media to cover 2026, without accepting any other bids. A report in The New York Times asserted that this extension was intended as compensation for the rescheduling of the 2022 World Cup to November–December rather than its traditional June–July scheduling, as it created considerable conflicts with major professional sports leagues that are normally in their off-season during the World Cup.[66][67][68]

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