There will be a novelty in the 2026 World Cup. The World Cup has never been held in more than two countries before. With the “United 2026” project, three countries have applied to host the final round after the 2022 World Cup, namely Canada, Mexico and the USA.
With Morocco, the second choice came from the African Union, but United 2026 prevailed and on June 13, 2018 it was possible to announce that the World Cup 2026 would take place in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The final round will be held in June and July 2026. The special thing is that a total of 48 teams will participate in this. As a result, there is also an adjustment for the group stage and an additional knockout round. How the new mode will affect the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and all other information about the Football World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA can be found below.
Everything you need to know about the 2026 World Cup
More hosts than ever before and more participating teams than ever before. For this reason alone, we can expect something completely different from what the 2026 World Cup won’t take in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
However, after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, you will return to the normal date in the summer. Temperatures in June and Julia are not a problem in North America, so there is no need to move to another season. On the other hand, soccer games will hardly be possible in Canada in winter.
The world will unite in North America! #united2026 officially won the hosting rights @fifa world cup,
, https://t.co/jbld3pvI99 pic.twitter.com/iBhngny42b
— United2026 (@United2026) June 13, 2018
The World Cup host vote was decided between United 2026 (along with Canada, Mexico and the USA) and Morocco. It was won by North Americans from 134 to 65.
With 48 instead of 32 teams, the 2026 World Cup will see an increase of 80 games instead of the previous 64 games. There will be a total of 16 groups of 3 teams each, of which only 2 teams can advance. This is followed by the KO round, which, unlike normal, will begin with the sixteenth final.
New allotment of starting places
The distribution of starting places also had to be adjusted due to the increase in teams. African and Asian federations benefit the most. There would be little change for the already well-represented UEFA, which is why they were originally against expanding World Cup participants.
The new distribution of World Cup teams on different continents is as follows:
- Europe (UEFA) – 16 spots (+3)
- Africa (CAF) – 9 starting places (+4)
- Asia (AFC) – 8 starting places (+3.5)
- South America (CONMEBOL) – 6 starting positions (+1.5)
- North and Central America (CONCACAF) – 6 starting slots (+2.5)
- Oceania (OFC) – 1 starting place (+0.5)
- Play-off tournament – 2 spots
New in the distribution is not only the number of starting places for each confederation, but also the play-off tournament, in which two more tickets are awarded. Apart from UEFA and host association CONCACAF, one team from each confederation will participate and try to use their last chance.
World Cup 2026 venues in Canada, Mexico and the United States
The countries where the 2026 World Cup will be held are already scheduled with Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. But in what venues and in which stadiums will the 80 World Cup games take place?
22 cities from the three countries have applied for the venue. Of these, 16 stadiums and venues will be selected by FIFA, which will eventually be awarded contracts for the 2026 World Cup. All 23 host cities that have applied for the 2026 World Cup:
Canada
- Edmonton-Commonwealth Stadium
- Toronto—BMO Field
- Montreal – Olympic Stadium (application withdrawn)
Mexico
- Guadalajara – Akron Stadium
- Mexico City – Aztec Stadium
- Monterrey – Estadio BBVA Bancomer
America
- Atlanta-Mercedes-Benz Stadium
- Baltimore – M&T Bank Stadium
- Boston-Gillette Stadium
- Cincinnati-Paul Brown Stadium
- Dallas-AT&T Stadium
- Denver—Strong Area at Mile High
- Houston-NRG Stadium
- Kansas City – Arrowhead Stadium
- Miami-Hard Rock Stadium
- Nashville-Nissan Stadium
- New York – MetLife Stadium
- Orlando-Camping World Stadium
- Philadelphia-Lincoln Financial Area
- San Francisco Bay Area – Levi’s Stadium
- Seattle-Lumen Field
- Washington Metropolitan Area – FedEx Field
For the 2026 World Cup, the stadium, as it always has, will probably have to do without sponsors to their names. As soon as the 16 World Cup stadiums and their official names are determined for the World Cup, you will have all the information about them from us.
World Cup Qualification Detail
All federations around the world will have more places available for finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It also changes the World Cup qualification mode for most of them. For the 2022 World Cup, UEFA distributed its starting places to all ten group winners of the World Cup Qualifiers and the three winners of the World Cup play-offs, made up of the qualifier runners-up and the best remaining Nations League teams.
With an increase from 13 to 16 World Cup participants from Europe, the format of 2026 World Cup qualification will also change. It is not yet clear what this will look like. As soon as there is information about this, you will find it here Football World Cup.Pro,
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