The 2026 FIFA World Cup will officially kick off on June 11, marking the first time in the tournament’s 96-year history that it will be hosted by three nations: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It will also be the largest World Cup ever, featuring 104 matches.
Initially, the three North American nations each planned to submit separate bids. However, in 2017, the football federations of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico announced a joint bid under the slogan “United As One.” A year later, at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, Russia, the joint bid secured 67% of the 200 votes, officially making history.
New expanded format demands more venues
FIFA’s decision to expand the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, along with the addition of an extra knockout round, means the 2026 World Cup will have 104 matches—40 more than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Hosting such a massive number of matches in a single country is no longer feasible, paving the way for the idea of co-hosting.
A key factor in the U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid winning the hosting rights was that all proposed stadiums were already built, requiring no major new construction, with an average capacity of over 68,000 seats. The candidate cities also met or exceeded FIFA’s requirements for transportation, accommodations, medical facilities, and technology infrastructure.
The 2026 World Cup will take place across 16 stadiums in 16 cities. The U.S. will host 78 matches—three times the combined total of Canada (13 matches) and Mexico (13 matches). All key knockout matches, including the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final, will be held in the U.S.
The most lucrative sports event
According to an analysis by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the 2026 World Cup is expected to generate $80.1 billion in total output across the three host nations, with $30.5 billion coming from the U.S. alone. FIFA’s financial reports indicate that the world’s top football governing body will earn $13 billion from the four-year cycle culminating in the 2026 World Cup, with nearly $9 billion coming this year alone. This far exceeds the $7.5 billion generated by the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the $5.24 billion from the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Regional clusters
To minimize travel challenges, FIFA has split the host venues into three regional clusters:
- Western Cluster: Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles
- Central Cluster: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City
- Eastern Cluster: Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey
Teams will generally play their group-stage matches within the same cluster, but not always. For example, Brazil will play all its Group C matches in the Eastern cluster. Meanwhile, South Africa will start its campaign in Mexico City (Central cluster), then fly to Atlanta (Eastern cluster), and finish its group stage in Monterrey. Bosnia and Herzegovina will have the longest group-stage travel, covering nearly 5,000 kilometers in total.
