England has qualified for the 2026 World Cup after beating Latvia under coach Thomas Tuchel. They made it with two games left in qualifying which lets fans start planning early. The tournament will be bigger than any World Cup before it. Fans can now think about traveling to watch games or set up their viewing plans at home. If you want to attend matches you’ll need to know about tickets and locations. The good news is there’s plenty of time to sort out all the details. Here’s a guide to help you understand what’s coming up at this historic World Cup.
Where and When Is the 2026 World Cup Happening?
The next FIFA World Cup in 2026 will be special. Three countries will host the games together: the USA Canada and Mexico.
This has never happened before in World Cup history. The first game will start in Mexico City on June 11 2026.
Teams will play for more than a month until the final game in New Jersey on July 19. The tournament will be bigger than ever with 48 teams playing instead of the usual 32.
This means more games and more soccer action for fans. The teams will first play in 12 groups with four teams each. Then they move to a new knockout stage with 32 teams.
This World Cup will be much bigger than the 1994 tournament in the USA which only had 24 teams. The 2026 event will last 39 days making it the longest World Cup ever.
Full List of Cities Hosting 2026 FIFA Matches
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place across North America. Games will be played in sixteen different cities.
Most matches will happen in the United States with eleven host cities there. Mexico will have three host cities & Canada will have two host cities. The US games will be in Atlanta Boston Dallas Houston Kansas City Los Angeles Miami New York/New Jersey Philadelphia San Francisco & Seattle.
Mexico’s matches will be in Guadalajara Mexico City and Monterrey.
For Canada the games will be in Toronto and Vancouver.
This is the first time that three countries will work together to host a World Cup tournament. Each city has a big stadium & good facilities to welcome soccer fans from around the world.
Key Dates: When Is the World Cup Group Draw?
The group stage draw happens on December 5 at 5 PM GMT at the JFK Arts Center in Washington DC. Mexico Canada, & USA will get the first spots in groups A, B, and D since they host the tournament.
Ticket sales started in October. Over 4.5 million fans tried to buy tickets in the first round.
While FIFA hasn’t officially shown all prices, people who got tickets are sharing the costs online.
Regular tickets come in four price levels. The opening USA game costs between $560 & $2,235. Final match tickets start at $2030 and go up to $6,000.
Special VIP tickets will cost even more when they become available. Some early games in smaller cities have $60 tickets, but these are rare.
The next chance to buy tickets starts October 27 until October 31. FIFA will pick winners randomly from all requests.
After the December 5 group draw, fans can try to get tickets for specific games. Last-minute tickets will be sold first come, first served closer to the event.
FIFA might raise prices for popular games later on. They also offer a special “Right To Buy” option but it costs much more than regular tickets.
Want Tickets? Here’s How Much They’ll Cost and Where to Get Them
28 teams have already earned their spot in next year’s World Cup. England is one of them.
The famous Argentina team that won the last World Cup will also be there. But 20 more teams still need to qualify.
The teams that made it so far are split by region.
From North America the host nations are Canada Mexico & the United States.
Africa sends Algeria Cape Verde Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Senegal South Africa and Tunisia.
The Asian teams are Australia Iran Japan Jordan Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea and Uzbekistan.
Europe only has England for now. From Oceania New Zealand qualified.
South America will send Argentina Brazil Colombia Ecuador Paraguay and Uruguay. Three teams will play in the World Cup for their first time ever. These are Cape Verde Jordan and Uzbekistan. Two more teams Suriname and Curacao hope to join this group of first-timers.
These Countries Have Already Qualified for the 2026 World Cup
The US will host most of the World Cup games – 78 out of 104 including the final match. The country faces some problems though. In 2025 several political leaders were killed & in 2024 there were over 500 shootings with multiple victims. President Trump ordered more deportations by ICE agents and sent National Guard soldiers to cities run by Democrats like Los Angeles which will host eight games. Many people are protesting against ICE and the National Guard in these cities. Trump says he might move games from places he thinks aren’t safe. He also started charging more taxes on goods from Canada and Mexico but claims the tension between these World Cup host countries will make the tournament better. He said this in March after putting new taxes on Mexican and Canadian imports.
Will Politics Impact the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
The hot weather caused problems during this year’s Club World Cup in America and it will be a challenge again at the next World Cup.
Luis Enrique from PSG wasn’t happy when his team had to play against Atletico Madrid at midday in LA when it was almost 40 degrees.
Many teams struggled with the hot and humid conditions. Chelsea player Enzo Fernandez felt dizzy during his game.
To deal with the heat Fifa will probably make European teams play their World Cup games very late at night UK time.
The World Cup game times will likely be similar to the Club World Cup. Games started at 5 PM UK time with more matches at 8 PM 11 PM and 2 AM. This setup helps teams avoid playing in the worst heat of the day.
What Weather to Expect at the 2026 World Cup Stadiums
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