by
On Monday, the host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final was finally locked in.
And on Monday, the football world truly started to realise how utterly bonkers the 2026 FIFA World Cup is going to be.
New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, home to the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants, will host the tournament’s crown jewel along with seven other matches – though FIFA is calling the venue New York New Jersey, given its proximity to Manhattan and the understandable preference to be associated with the megacity over the home of Tony Soprano.
UFC 298: VOLKANOVSKI VS TOPURIA | SUN 18 FEB | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the new exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View events!
Dallas’ AT&T Stadium will get nine matches including a semi-final, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host eight matches including a semi-final, and Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium will host eight matches including a quarter-final and two USA group games. Mexico will host the first two matches of the tournament on June 11, with the host nation playing at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca.
But those are just five of the 16 venues required to host the whopping 104 matches required to narrow down 48 teams, spread across 12 four-team groups in the opening stage, to one world champion.
The scale will be enormous, and to pack it all into just over a month – from the June 11 opener to the July 19 final – will require a veritable feast of football.
The clean bracket of years gone by (32 teams cut into a 16-team knockout stage) is gone. The top two teams in each group, plus the eight best third-placers, will advance with an extra knockout round (beginning with 32 teams) required.
The thrilling early group stage process will continue, with four games back-to-back-to-back-to-back, but to ensure the final group matches for each quartet are played at the same time, there will be six games played on each day between June 24 and June 27.
As British journalist Daniel Storey tweeted: “I’m not sure people realise how mad a 48-team, 104-match World Cup is going to be.
“Between June 13 and June 27 2026, there will be 68 group games. That’s almost a fifth of an entire Premier League season in 15 days.
“In 2022, 64 matches were played to decide the world champion.
“In 2026, 72 matches will be played to decide which 16 countries won’t make the last-32 round.”
FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 SCHEDULE BASICS
Opening match: June 11, Mexico vs TBC, Estadio Azteca
Group stage: June 11 to 27 (48 teams in 12 groups, 3 games per nation for 72 total)
Round of 32: June 28 to July 3 (16 games)
Round of 16: July 4 to 7 (8 games)
Quarter-finals: July 9 to 11 (4 games)
Semi-finals: July 14 and 15, Dallas and Atlanta
Third-place playoff: July 18, Miami
Final: July 19, ‘New York New Jersey’
All dates US time
The expansion, with an extra 16 teams earning group-stage bids, is spread across the six confederations. Africa (four extra slots) is the big winner, ahead of Asia, Europe and North/Central America (three extra slots, with the latter getting three auto-bids with the host nations USA, Mexico and Canada).
But of course, this will make the groups weaker. Broadly speaking, the fourth team in each group for the 2026 World Cup would not have qualified for the 2022 event, along with another four teams who’ll be the third-highest seed in their group.
Foxsports.com.au has conducted a mock 2026 World Cup draw based on the current FIFA world rankings and previous group draw protocols, meaning nations are drawn away from other nations in their confederation – with the exception of Europe, as their 16 qualifiers cannot completely avoid each other across the 12 groups.
Australia would be expected to make the tournament, given it has qualified five times in a row and Asia now has three extra slots to earn.
The Socceroos fare well in our mock draw, scheduled to face hosts Mexico (top seed), plus Denmark (yes, for the third time in a row) and Burkina Faso (as an Inter-Confederation Playoff winner). This would be a very even group with Mexico (world rank No.15), Denmark (No.19) and the Socceroos (No.25) all big chances to advance, especially if they record wins over the African nation (No.57) which has never qualified for a World Cup group stage.
It would be difficult to have a true ‘group of death’ because in eight of the 12 groups, the third-place team would advance anyway. For example in our mock draw, three of a tricky-looking Group H (Brazil, Croatia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia) could easily still advance to the knockouts.
2026 WORLD CUP SLOTS
Asia (AFC): 8 + 1 playoff bid (+3 from 2022)
Africa (CAF): 9 + 1 playoff bid (+4)
North/Central America (CONCACAF): 6 (including 3 hosts) + 2 playoff bids (+3)
South America (CONMEBOL): 6 + 1 playoff bid (+2)
Oceania (OFC): 1 + 1 playoff bid (+1)
Europe (UEFA): 16 (+3)
Total: 48
MOCK 2026 WORLD CUP DRAW (Based on most recent FIFA world rankings)
POTS (One team per pot to be drawn into each group)
Pot 1 (Host nations automatically included)
USA (currently ranked No.12)
Mexico (No.15)
Canada (No.48)
Argentina
France
England
Belgium
Brazil
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Italy
Pot 2
Croatia
Uruguay
Morocco
Colombia
Germany
Japan
Switzerland
Denmark
Senegal
Iran
Ukraine
South Korea
Pot 3
Austria
Australia
Sweden
Hungary
Tunisia
Wales
Algeria
Ecuador
Egypt
Peru
Panama
Nigeria
Pot 4
Cameroon
Cote d’Ivoire
Mali
Costa Rica
Jamaica
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
Iraq
UAE
New Zealand
Inter-Confederation Playoff Team 1 (Highest rank: Chile)
Inter-Confederation Playoff Team 2 (Highest rank: Burkina Faso)
GROUPS
Group A – two EU
USA
Ukraine
Austria
UAE
Group B
Mexico
Denmark
Australia
Burkina Faso (Inter-Confederation Playoff Team 2)
Group C
Canada
Switzerland
Sweden
Iraq
Group D
Argentina
Germany
Hungary
Mali
Group E
France
South Korea
Tunisia
Chile (Inter-Confederation Playoff Team 1)
Group F
England
Iran
Wales
Cote d’Ivoire
Group G
Belgium
Senegal
Ecuador
Qatar
Group H
Brazil
Croatia
Algeria
Saudi Arabia
Group I
Netherlands
Japan
Egypt
New Zealand
Group J
Portugal
Colombia
Panama
Cameroon
Group K
Spain
Morocco
Peru
Jamaica
Group L
Italy
Uruguay
Nigeria
Costa Rica
