FIFA 2026 World Cup to span 104 matches across three countries

A World Cup built around 48 teams and 104 matches is turning the tournament into a five-week national logistics test, with U.S. team captain Tim Ream calling it “a Super Bowl every single day for five weeks.” FIFA has set the opening match for June 11 in Mexico City and the final for July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, framing the first expanded World Cup as a contest as much about movement, access and scale as about soccer.

The schedule stretches across 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the United States carrying the heaviest load at 78 matches, including every game from the quarterfinals onward. Canada and Mexico will host 13 matches each. That distribution matters for fans who will be planning around air travel, hotel capacity and regional transit, while also sorting through a calendar that FIFA says was designed to reduce travel and protect rest and recovery for players and supporters.

FIFA said 1,248 players representing 48 nations were confirmed on June 2, a record field for the competition. The federation also said its updated match schedule includes venues and kickoff times for all 104 games, giving fans a clearer picture of how the month-long tournament will move from the opening match in Mexico City to the final in East Rutherford. The scale alone means more pressure on the host cities that will absorb the bulk of demand, especially the 11 U.S. venues expected to carry most of the event.

Broadcast access will be unusually wide. FOX Sports said all 104 matches will air live across FOX and FS1, while NBCUniversal said Peacock will stream Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of all 104 matches. FOX said 40 games will land in U.S. primetime, including 21 on FOX and 19 on FS1, giving domestic audiences a steady run of high-visibility slots as the tournament moves through its 78 U.S. matches and into the knockout rounds. For American viewers, the next World Cup will not just be bigger on paper. It will be longer, more spread out and more deeply embedded in daily life than any previous edition.