The countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered its final week, with the largest tournament in the competition’s history set to begin on Thursday, 11 June.
The opening match will be played at Mexico City Stadium, better known as Estadio Azteca, where co-hosts Mexico will face South Africa at 22:00 Cyprus time. The venue, one of football’s most recognisable stadiums, will become the first to stage World Cup matches in three different editions, having previously hosted games in 1970 and 1986.
The tournament will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, with 16 stadiums being used across the three countries.
A new 48-team format
The 2026 World Cup will be the first to feature 48 national teams, up from 32 in previous editions.
The teams have been divided into 12 groups of four. The top two sides from each group will qualify automatically for the Round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.
The groups are as follows:
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia
Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey
Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
Opening fixtures
The first matches of the tournament will feature the three host nations.
On Thursday, 11 June, Mexico will play South Africa at Mexico City Stadium.
On Friday, 12 June, South Korea will face Czechia at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara at 05:00 Cyprus time, before Canada play Bosnia and Herzegovina at BMO Field in Toronto at 22:00.
The United States begin their campaign on Saturday, 13 June, against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles at 04:00 Cyprus time.
Group stage and venues
The group stage will run from 11 to 27 June and will include 72 matches. Because the tournament is being held across North American time zones, several matches will take place late at night or in the early hours for viewers in Cyprus and the wider European region.
The remaining groups will begin their campaigns between 13 and 17 June, with early fixtures including Brazil v Morocco, Germany v Curaçao, Spain v Cape Verde, France v Senegal and England v Croatia.
In the United States, matches will be staged at MetLife Stadium, AT&T Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, NRG Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, SoFi Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, Lumen Field, Levi’s Stadium, Gillette Stadium and Hard Rock Stadium.
Mexico will host matches at Estadio Azteca, Estadio BBVA and Estadio Akron, while Canada’s venues are BC Place in Vancouver and BMO Field in Toronto.
The tournament will conclude with the final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, bringing to an end a World Cup expected to set new records for attendance, broadcast reach and commercial impact.
Source: CNA
