myfootballfacts.com · World Cup 2026 Special
June 11 – July 19, 2026 · United States, Canada and Mexico
48Teams
104games
16Host cities
39football days
This summer, North America hosts the most ambitious edition of the FIFA World Cup in the tournament’s 96-year history. For the first time, three nations (the United States, Canada and Mexico) share hosting duties, while the field expands from 32 to 48 teams. The result is 104 games in 39 days – a tournament that really feels like a different beast than anything that’s come before it.
Mexico kicks off action on June 11 at the iconic Estadio Azteca against South Africa, while New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium hosts the final on July 19. In between, four debutant nations—Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan—get their first taste of soccer’s biggest stage.
The new format explained
FIFA’s expanded format is the biggest structural change since 1998. Twelve groups of four teams replace the traditional eight groups of four. The top two from each group advance automatically, plus the eight best third-placed teams from all groups, creating a new round of 32 before the now-familiar round of 16 stage. Crucially, each team still plays three group matches. The team that lifts the trophy on July 19 will have played eight games in total, one more than in previous editions.
June 11
The tournament opens: Mexico vs South Africa, Azteca Stadium, Mexico City
June 11-25
Group stage (12 groups · 48 matches)
June 28 – July 4
Round of 16 (new stage, 32 teams)
July 11-12
Quarter finals
July 19
Final: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Groups at a glance
The 48 nations were drawn into 12 groups at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in December 2025. Italy are absent for a third consecutive World Cup, knocked out by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European play-offs. Here are six of the most compelling groups:
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇰🇷 South Korea
🇨🇿 Czech
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇲🇦 Morocco
🇭🇹 Haiti
🏴 Scotland
🇺🇸 USA
🇵🇾 Paraguay
🇦🇺 Australia
🇹🇷 Turkey
🇪🇸 Spain
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
🇺🇾 Uruguay
🇨🇻 Cape Verde
🇫🇷 France
🇸🇳 Senegal
🇮🇶 Iraq
🇳🇴 Norway
🏴 England
🇭🇷 Croatia
🇬🇭 Ghana
🇵🇦 Panama
Betting favourites: who has the odds to win
Spain enter the tournament as favourites, unbeaten in 90 minutes since defeat to Colombia in March 2024. France and England remain equal odds, with defending champions Argentina and five-time winners Brazil rounding out the top five.
+600
Odds via BetMGM/ESPN, April 2026. For reference only, please bet responsibly.
The coaches in their own words
From Tuchel’s measured confidence to Pochettino’s home crowd’s rallying cry, the tournament’s top managers have been setting the tone ahead of June.
Thomas Tuchel
England head coach
“We are underdogs. Spain is the reason I call us that: they are European champions and they are formidable. But there is a supercharged atmosphere in this group. We have a chance, like everyone else, but every player has to be there.”
Lionel Scaloni
Coach of Argentina
“Everybody wants to see Lionel Messi play in this World Cup. This is something special. We know the challenge – no team has won back-to-back since Brazil in 1962 – but this group completely believes in themselves.”
Mauricio Pochettino
USA Head Coach
“Every group game for us is like a final. Playing in front of your people, in your own country, you can’t ask for more pressure or more motivation. We are ready for the challenge.”
Julian Nagelsmann
Head coach of Germany
“We have the ambition to move on. There is a supercharged atmosphere in the dressing room: they want to win. Germany in a World Cup always means something. We will not go easy.”
“Brazil have the most successful history of any team in this competition. That history doesn’t win you the trophy, but it tells you what’s possible. My job is to make sure this group believes they can add to it.”
— Carlo Ancelotti, coach of Brazil
The nations make their World Cup debuts
Four nations will experience the World Cup for the first time in 2026, a direct result of expanding the field to 48 teams and opening the door to smaller footballing nations.
🇨🇻 Cape Verde
🇨🇼 Curaçao
🇯🇴 Jordan
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
Cape Verde is particularly noteworthy: their squad is expected to be the oldest in the tournament, with an average of 30.7 years until qualifying. The island nation of less than 600,000 inhabitants becomes one of the smallest ever to qualify for a World Cup.
One to watch: Norway’s Haaland factor
Norway are in their first World Cup since 1998, and their comeback is led by Erling Haaland, who scored 16 goals in qualifying, one of the most prolific individual qualifying campaigns in European history. Lined up with France and Senegal in Group I, progression to the knockouts is far from certain, but few players in the tournament carry the same game-changing threat. If Norway escape the group stage, they will become a real contender for the quarter-finals.
Key places
MetLife Stadium
East Rutherford, NJ – Final
Aztec Stadium
Mexico City – Opening match
SoFi Stadium
Inglewood, CA — Group and KO
AT&T Stadium
Arlington, TX – Group and KO
Place BC
Vancouver — Group stage
BMO field
Toronto – Group stage
The farewell tour of Messi and Ronaldo
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have announced that this will be their last World Cup. Messi, current world champion and defining figure of the tournament since 2006, turns 39 during the tournament. Ronaldo, who confirmed his participation in 2026 is “definitely happening”, has never won the World Cup, with a career-best fourth place in 2006. If their paths cross in a potential quarter-final it would represent the definitive coda to two races without parallel in the history of the sport.
Messi has scored 12 goals in five World Cups, which places him sixth on the all-time list. With Argentina tied at the opposite side of the Spanish team to avoid a final showdown before the semi-finals, the way is open for them to bow out at the top.
