With the men’s World Cup about to begin, soccer fans can also start getting excited for the next World Cup taking place in 2026.
The location of the 2026 World Cup is unique because the event will be hosted in three different countries in North America: the United States, Mexico and Canada. Multiple countries haven’t hosted the World Cup since 2002, when Japan and South Korea shared hosting duties.
Within those three countries, 16 different cities will host matches during the World Cup.
After a long candidate process, the 16 cities were announced back in June. The cities in the United States include East Rutherford, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco/Bay Area (Santa Clara) and Los Angeles. The Mexican cities include Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The Canadian cities include Vancouver and Toronto.
This marks Mexico’s third time hosting, the United States’ second time hosting and Canada’s first time hosting.
All of the venues in the United States are NFL stadiums in the designated cities in order to hold the large number of people traveling to attend the games.
Following a FIFA vote back in 2017, the 2026 World Cup will be the first time in which 48 teams will qualify for the event, with the standard originally being 32. Because of this jump in size, there will now be 80 matches played over the 20 total venues.
The United States will host a total of 60 games, including the quarterfinals, semifinals and final matches. Mexico and Canada will each host 10 matches.
