World Cup 2026: What to expect in terms of teams, locations, and structure?

With much fanfare, the World Cup 2022 ended with Lionel Messi's Argentina winning the title for the third time, beating the defending champions Kylian Mbappé's France. The World Cup in Qatar will be remembered as the most compact in history, but the upcoming world cup will be quite different regarding the number of teams, venues, format and much more.

What can we expect from the World Cup 2026?

The 2026 World Cup will be held across three North American countries; the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is a stark contrast from the just concluded world cup in Qatar, as all the matches were played within the distance of an hour's drive. Moreover, there will be 16 additional teams competing for the title, which means more games.

The duration will be extended a little bit, but the overall world cup time will still be within five weeks, starting from mid-June 2026 to the second or third week of July 2026. The tournament will be held across 11 cities in the USA, with three and two venues in Mexico and Canada, respectively.




In terms of teams, there will be a total of 48 teams from the current 32 played in Qatar. It will also include more teams from Asia and African regions. And this will also mean more revenue generation via merchandising, sponsorships, sales of tickets and broadcast. FIFA is expected to generate up to USD 11 billion over four years up to December 2026. As per FIFA's projection, around 5.5 million fans will attend the next world cup.

FAQs:

1. Which country/state will host the final of the World Cup 2026?
   The final will be played in the United States. However, the venue still needs to be finalized, but the general view is that MetLife Stadium in New Jersey could be the host.
2. When did the last time the United States hosted World Cup?
   The United States hosted the world once in 1994.