FIFA confirms 48-team World Cup format for North American tournament
The 2026 tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico will feature 12 groups and a record $50m prize pot, solidifying the sport’s largest commercial and operational undertaking.
FIFA has confirmed the operational parameters for the 2026 World Cup, establishing a tournament structure that expands the competition from 32 to 48 national teams. The event, scheduled to run from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, will feature a total of 104 matches, a significant increase from the 64 fixtures played at the Qatar 2022 tournament.
The new format divides the 48 qualified teams into 12 groups of four. Under the revised qualification rules, the top two teams from each group will advance automatically to the knockout stage, joined by the eight best third-placed finishers. This structure ensures that 32 of the 48 participating nations will progress to the Round of 32, maintaining a traditional knockout trajectory following the group stage.
Host nations qualified automatically, with the remaining 45 teams securing their spots through a two-year qualifying process across FIFA’s six continental confederations. The United States will host the majority of the fixtures, staging 78 matches across 11 stadiums. Mexico and Canada will each host 13 matches, utilising three and two stadiums respectively. This distribution marks the first time Canada has served as a co-host, while Mexico and the US have previously hosted the tournament in 1970, 1986, and 1994.
The tournament’s schedule begins on June 11 with the opening match at Mexico City Stadium, where hosts Mexico will face South Africa. This fixture serves as a rematch of the 2010 World Cup opener, which concluded in a 1-1 draw in Johannesburg. The competition will culminate on July 19 at the New York New Jersey Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,500 spectators.
Financial incentives for the winning team have been adjusted to reflect the tournament’s expanded scale. The victorious nation will receive a record $50 million in prize money, an increase from the $42 million awarded to the Qatar 2022 champions. This figure represents a substantial rise from the $2.2 million prize awarded in 1982, underscoring the commercial growth of the event since its inception in 1930, when eight different teams had previously claimed the title, with Brazil holding the record with five wins.
