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The 2026 World Cup final will be held on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, world soccer governing body FIFA announced Sunday for the tournament to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The U.S. Men’s National Team begins its 2026 World Cup journey in Los Angeles, playing its first group stage game on June 12 at SoFi Stadium. The U.S. team will play all of its games on the West Coast, with the next two games on the West Coast. Seattle, then back to Los Angeles.
The opening game of the tournament will be held in Mexico City, with co-hosts Mexico facing yet to be determined opponents in their group, and the remaining games at home. This will be the third time Mexico has hosted a World Cup match, following in 1970 and 1986.
Canada will host its first-ever Men’s World Cup match on June 12, with group stage beginning in Toronto, followed by two games in Vancouver.
FIFA’s objective when setting the schedule was to do everything possible to maximize player welfare and fan experience. This tournament will be held in his three countries and his three time zones, so it comes with considerable challenges to ensure players are playing at their best and fans are able to follow their chosen team. Masu.
For this reason, FIFA consulted multiple stakeholders to ensure that it could plan for as many scenarios as possible.
These stakeholders within FIFA included competition management, team services, ticket sales, hospitality, and medical professionals. Non-FIFA parties include broadcasters, sponsors, national team coaches, technical directors, and their respective medical staff. Technical staff from the three host countries also made a significant contribution to the group stage venue.
FIFA focused on the 2016 Copa America Centenario, which was also held in the United States. Intercontinental flights for teams between games were not uncommon in this tournament, with nine of the 16 teams enduring at least one such flight. Paraguay endured two such outings in the group stage alone. These long road trips added time to players’ recovery and preparation, making it even more difficult for fans to follow the team.
Taking into account travel distances and climate changes, FIFA divided the venues into three regions: eastern, central, and western, with teams operating from base camps in the same regions as the matches. This will allow FIFA to have flexibility regarding the actual kick-off time, allowing them to better cater to both local and international audiences. It has not yet been determined when the match will be broadcast.
Additionally, FIFA ensured that teams would have three full days of rest between matches. Out of a total of 104 matches, the only exception to this guideline is his third-place match at the end of the tournament.
To reduce travel requirements for competing teams, stadiums will be allocated to groups rather than individual matches.
However, travel demands are not the same across the 48 teams. Weighting is given to teams that finish first in their group, with second place teams having less travel requirements and third place teams having the most travel requirements.
FIFA will also pay close attention to weather conditions. We looked at temperature and humidity measurements in each of the 16 venue cities, which influence the time of day the games are held. The final kick-off time will be announced after the group stage draw in December 2025.
The 2026 tournament will feature 48 teams for the first time ever, after FIFA expanded the field from the 32 teams used since 1998. The last time the United States hosted the Men’s World Cup, in 1994, only 24 teams participated.
In 1994, the United States played two group stage games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and the other at the Silverdome in Detroit. That year’s Rose Bowl also featured the final, where Brazil defeated Italy in a penalty shootout, and in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, the United States defeated China, also in a penalty shootout.
Three host nations will participate from Concacaf, while 45 other teams will advance to the World Cup through various qualifying processes across six confederations.
UEFA (Europe) has 16 slots. CAF (Africa) has nine. AFC (Asia) has eight. There are three in Concacaf (North, Central America, and the Caribbean). There is also one in Oceania. Two further countries will qualify through a six-team play-off involving non-UEFA federations. Playoffs end on November 18, 2025.
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