FIFA World Cup 2026: Schedule Of Dates, Location, Cities, Stadiums, Tickets, And Other Details ∼ FIFA World Cup 2026 is still more than three years away, but the football world has already set its sight on the tournament. The much-anticipated tournament will be the 23rd edition of the competition and will be played in North America.
As many as three countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico – will co-host the FIFA World Cup 2026. For the first time in the men’s FIFA World Cup, three countries will be sharing the hosting rights for a football competition. In the past, the FIFA World Cup was hosted by more than one country just once, when Japan and South Korea co-hosted the 2002 version.
FIFA World Cup 2026 will also be historic as it will be the first edition of the competition in which 48 teams will be participating instead of 32. FIFA World Cup is unarguably one of the greatest sporting events in the world, and the upcoming edition promises to be bigger and better.
Here is everything else you need to know about the FIFA World Cup 2026:
FIFA World Cup 2026: Dates, schedule and venue:
The 2026 World Cup will mark the return of the competition to its traditional period of June and July. The full World Cup dates are yet to be announced by the governing body but the date for the final has already been announced. FIFA has confirmed that the World Cup final date is 19 July.
Venues:
FIFA World Cup 2026 will be played across three countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico. The United States will host a majority of matches during the tournament. All of the knockout stage matches, starting from the quarterfinal will take place in the United States.
A total of 16 cities will be hosting the games in the next FIFA World Cup. 11 of those 16 cities are from the USA – Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Boston and New York.
On the other hand, the Mexican cities that will host the matches are – Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City. In Canada, the games will be played in Vancouver and Toronto.
List of World Cup 2026 cities:
| Seattle |
| San Francisco |
| Los Angeles |
| Dallas |
| Houston |
| Kansas City |
| Philadelphia |
| Atlanta |
| Miami |
| Boston |
| New York |
| Monterrey |
| Guadalajara |
| Mexico City |
| Vancouver |
| Toronto |
Here is a list of the World Cup 2026 stadiums:
| USA |
| Atlanta – Mercedes-Benz Stadium |
| Boston – Gillette Stadium |
| Dallas – AT&T Stadium |
| Houston – NRG Stadium |
| Kansas City – Arrowhead Stadium |
| Los Angeles – SoFi Stadium |
| Miami – Hard Rock Stadium |
| New York/New Jersey – MetLife Stadium |
| Philadelphia – Lincoln Financial Field |
| San Francisco – Levi’s Stadium |
| Seattle – Lumen Field |
| Canada |
| Toronto – BMO Field |
| Vancouver – BC Place |
| Mexico |
| Guadalajara – Estadio AkronMexico City – Estadio Azteca |
| Monterrey – Estadio BBVA |
World Cup 2026 Final Stadium:
While the United States are confirmed to be the host for the 2026 World Cup final, the venue for the same is yet to be finalised. In the past, USA had hosted the tournament in 1994 and the final was played at the iconic Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.
However, the stadium has not been included in the list of venues. It was overshadowed by the SoFi Stadium and there is a chance that it might end up being the World Cup 2026 final stadium. A modern-day marvel, the stadium opened in 2020 and has a capacity of 70,240.
Some other stadiums which could be in contention for the all-important game are – MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and AT&T Stadium in Texas.
FIFA World Cup 2026 format:
The World Cup format will be a new one in 2026. Instead of 32 teams, a total of 48 teams will be taking part in the next edition of the World Cup.
The 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of 4 for the group stage. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams from the groups will then progress to the round of 32. As a result of the new format, the teams will need to play eight games from group stage through to the final, rather than seven.
But despite the new format, each team will still play three games in the group stage. The only new addition to the format is the round of 32. That will add one more match to the hopefuls journey to the final.
FIFA World Cup 2026: Qualification:
As of now, only three teams have qualified for the next World Cup – Canada, Mexico, and the United States have earned an automatic qualification as the co-hosts. The remaining 45 slots will be filled by nations from UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, AFC (Asian Football Confederation), OFC (Oceania Football Confederation) and CAF (Confederation of African Football).
The numbers of teams qualifying from each confederation are:
| Confederations | No. of qualifiers |
| AFC | 8 |
| CAF | 9 |
| CONCACAF | 6 |
| CONMEBOL | 6 |
| OFC | 1 |
| UEFA | 16 |
The above allocation accounts for 46 of the 48 participating teams. The final two spots will be decided by a play-off tournament. A total of six teams will be participating in the competition. One team per confederation with the exception of UEFA, plus one additional team from the confederation of the host countries, as well as two teams to be seeded based on the FIFA World Ranking, will participate.
FIFA World Cup 2026: Logo and Mascot
(The governing body is yet to reveal the logo and mascot for the 2026 World Cup.)
FIFA World Cup 2026: FAQs
Who will host the FIFA World Cup 2026?
The United States, Canada and Mexico will host the 2026 World Cup. It will be the first-ever edition of the World Cup that will be hosted by three counties.
What cities will FIFA World Cup 2026 be in?
The World Cup 2026 games will be played in 16 cities. 11 of those cities are from the US, 3 from Mexico while Canada have two cities as venues.
Where is 2026 and 2030 World Cup?
While the 2026 World Cup will be hosted in North America, the host for the 2030 World Cup are yet to be decided.
When will world cup 2026 tickets go on sale?
While the fans are desperately waiting to book tickets for the 2026 World Cup, FIFA is yet to make them available for purchase. FIFA’s official site, however, gives the fans the opportunity to register themselves in order to remain updated on the tickets. Here is the link to the official page for the tickets.
How much are world cup tickets?
With tickets for 2026 World Cup yet to be released, the prices are not known. However, one can guess the range of the price based on the price for the previous World Cup that was hosted in 2022 in Qatar. FIFA sold all the tickets through their official website.
The tickets were divided into four categories. Category 1 was the most expensive one while Category 4 was the cheapest but was reserved just for Qatar residents.
Here is the World Cup tickets price for the last edition:
Opening match: $54.85-$301.68
Group play: $10.97-$219.40
Round of 16: $19.20-$274.26
Quarterfinals: $82.28-$425.10
Semifinals: $137.13-$954.41
Third-place match: $82.28-$425.10
Talking about the World Cup final ticket price, the Category 4 ticket was priced at $205.69, while the cheapest ticket for a non-Qatar resident was $603.36. On the other hand, the Category 1 tickets cost a whopping amount of $1,604.39 each.