In 2026, three countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico — will host the first-ever 48-team FIFA World Cup, and we now know where all 104 matches of football’s biggest knockout tournament in history will be played.
New York/New Jersey will host the final on July 19, 2026, beating out original favorites Los Angeles and Dallas to clinch the rights to host men’s world soccer’s premier event.
The 16 host cities in the three countries did not know which matches would be assigned to them until FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on a live broadcast on Sunday that the 2026 tournament would be “the most spectacular show the world has ever seen.”
Where will the three host nations play their group stage matches?
The U.S. Men’s National Team, Mexico and Canada all qualified automatically for the tournament. The remaining 45 teams must qualify.
“There’s a lot of interest from 48 countries in how their teams perform in the World Cup,” U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter said after the announcement. “It’s a new format and it’s going to be inspiring for a lot of people.”
Mexico will play their World Cup opening match on Thursday, 11 June at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, then play in Guadalajara on 18 June before playing again in Mexico City on 24 June.
The U.S. Men’s National Team is scheduled to depart Los Angeles on June 12, travel north to Seattle on June 19, and return to Los Angeles on June 26.
USMNT’s Christian Pulisic (Howard Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
Canada will play its first match on Friday, June 12 in Toronto, before playing its second and third group matches in Vancouver on June 18 and 24.
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Who were the winners and losers in this announcement?
New York/New Jersey was the big winner, and Dallas has been in the running to host the finals for the past few weeks, but it’s arguable that Dallas will host more games than any other city during the tournament.
Dallas Stadium will host the most games of any host city, with nine matches. @FIFA World Cup™Match 🌎
🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 #We are 26 l #WeAreDallas pic.twitter.com/IxY2rPHi8L
— FIFA World Cup 26™ Dallas (@FWC26Dallas) February 4, 2024
As expected, the United States will host all knockout matches from the quarterfinals onwards, but the U.S. Men’s National Team will need to advance out of the group stage to have a chance to have fans outside of the West Coast watch the games.
Canada’s 10 group stage matches will be split between the two host cities of Toronto and Vancouver, which will also host one round of 32 match, with Vancouver hosting the round of 16 match.
Mexico will be playing their first match of the tournament having only played 13 of the 104 matches and only three knockout matches.
How does it work?
The men’s World Cup has featured 32 teams since 1998, but the 2026 tournament will be bigger, adding a knockout round and increasing the number of matches from 64 to 104.
The 2026 tournament will be split into 12 groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will advance to the first knockout stage along with the top eight teams (third-placed) in the standings. There will be a total of 32 teams.
From there the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals will take place.
The tournament will be held in 16 stadiums in the US cities of New York, Dallas, Miami, Kansas City, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston, as well as Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico, and Vancouver and Toronto in Canada.
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Who got what?
AT&T Stadium (Dallas)
Capacity (as per tender): 92,967
Matches: 9
Breakdown: Dallas didn’t make it to the finals, but they played more games than any other city – five in the group stage, two in the round of 32, the round of 16 and the semifinals.
AT&T Stadium is set to host more matches at the 2026 World Cup than any other stadium (Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
MetLife Stadium (New York/New Jersey)
Capacity: 87,157
Matches: 8
The breakdown: five group matches, the round of 32, the round of 16 and then the one we all wanted: the Men’s World Cup Final.
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Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
Capacity: 75,000
Matches: 8
The breakdown: five group stage matches, the round of 32, the round of 16 and two semi-finals.
SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles)
Capacity: 70,240
Matches: 8
Breakdown: Five group stage matches, two round of 32 matches and one quarterfinal match.
(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami)
Capacity: 67,518
Matches: 7
Breakdown: four group stage matches, the last 32, the quarterfinals and the third-place playoff.
Gillette Stadium (Boston)
Capacity: 70,000
Matches: 7
Breakdown: Five group stage matches, the last 32 and the quarter-finals.
NRG Stadium (Houston)
Capacity: 72,220
Matches: 7
Breakdown: Five group stage matches, one round of 32 and one round of 16.
BC Place (Vancouver)
Capacity: 54,500
Matches: 7
Breakdown: Five group stage matches (including Canada’s two group matches), one round of 32 match, and one round of 16 match.
Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City)
Capacity: 76,640
Matches: 6
Breakdown: four group stage matches, one round of 32 match and one quarterfinal.
Lumen Field (Seattle)
Capacity: 69,000
Matches: 6
Breakdown: four group stage matches, round of 32 and round of 16.
BMO Field (Toronto)
Capacity: 45,736 (expanded from the current 30,000 for the tournament)
Matches: 6
Breakdown: Five group matches (including co-host Canada’s opening match) and the round of 32
Levi’s Stadium (San Francisco Bay Area)
Capacity: 70,909
Matches: 6
Breakdown: Five group stage matches and one round of 32 match.
Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
Capacity: 69,328
Matches: 6
Details: Five group stage matches plus the round of 16 on July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Estadio Azteca (Mexico City)
Capacity: 87,523
Matches: 5
Details: The opening match will be against co-host Mexico on June 11, followed by two group matches, a round of 32 match and a round of 16 match.
Estadio Akron (Guadalajara)
Capacity: 48,071
Matches: 4
Breakdown: Only four group matches.
Estadio BBVA (Monterrey)
Capacity: 53,460
Matches: 4
Breakdown: Three group stage matches and a round of 16 match.
What else should I know?
If you love tournament football and live in North America, you’ve come to the right place.
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(Top photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)