Everything you actually need to know before a single ball is kicked — the dates, the 16 cities, and how 48 teams squeeze into one summer.
When it happens
Mark June 11 and July 19, 2026. That five-and-a-bit week window is the whole thing — opener in Mexico City, final at MetLife Stadium just outside New York.
It is the longest World Cup ever staged, 104 matches across 39 days. If that sounds exhausting, it is. Players have quietly said as much. For fans, though, it means there is football on almost every single day of summer.
Sixteen cities, three countries
Eleven host cities sit in the United States, three in Mexico, two in Canada. The American spread runs coast to coast: Seattle and the Bay Area on the west, New York/New Jersey and Boston on the east, with Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles filling the map.
Mexico brings Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Canada adds Toronto and Vancouver. No European tournament has ever asked fans to think in three time zones at once.
The format, simply put
Forty-eight teams, twelve groups of four. The top two from each group go through, plus the eight best third-placed sides. That gives you a 32-team knockout bracket — a Round of 32 that simply did not exist before.
Win your group and you skip a landmine or two. Limp through in third and the draw can be brutal. The maths rewards finishing strong.
