FIFA World Cup 2026

Kathmandu: The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men’s soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA.

The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026. It will be jointly hosted by sixteen cities—eleven in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.

The tournament will be the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted by three nations, and the first to include 48 teams, an expansion from 32 previously.

The United 2026 bid beat a rival bid by Morocco during a final vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow. It will be the first men’s World Cup since 2002 to be co-hosted by multiple nations.

With its past hosting of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments, Mexico will become the first country to host or co-host the men’s World Cup three times. The United States previously hosted the men’s World Cup in 1994. By contrast, it will be Canada’s first time hosting or co-hosting the men’s tournament.

The event will return to its traditional Northern Hemisphere summer schedule after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was uniquely held in November and December.

As the host nations, Canada, Mexico, and the United States all automatically qualified. Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan will all make their World Cup debuts. Argentina is the defending champion, having won its third World Cup title in 2022.

Competition Formats & Rules:

• Single round-robin group phase consisting of 12 groups of 4 teams.
• Top 2 teams from each group plus the 8 best 3rd-placed teams advance to the Round of 32.
• Knockout bracket stages are single-match elimination fixtures.