Where is the next World Cup being held? 2026 cities, stadiums and tournament dates confirmed

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is now drawing to a close, and attention will soon turn to the 2026 edition.

The Qatar World Cup has been a controversial one, with huge questions asked about the Middle Eastern country’s hosting of the competition, while there have been huge controversies over the deaths of migrant workers. On the pitch, the World Cup has been as entertaining as it usually is, and we are now counting down the hours to the final on Sunday, with Argentina taking on reigning champions France.

Attention will then turn to the 2026 World Cup, and we have rounded up what we know about the tournament so far.

Where and when is the 2026 World Cup?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The tournament will be held across June and July, returning to the usual time of year, and there will be 16 host cities spread across the three host countries.

The official start date for the competition is Monday, June 3. The final will take place on Friday, July 3.

Host cities

Of the 16 host cities, the US will have 11, and those include New York/New Jersey, Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Miami.

Canada has two, including Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico has three, including Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

It’s worth noting that every game from the quarter-finals onwards will be played in the USA, with the final taking place at New York/New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL franchises New York Giants and New York Jets.

The USA will host 60 games in all, with Canada and Mexico each hosting 10 games.

Host venues

Here is a full list of the venues being used and each stadium’s capacity.

MetLife Stadium (New York/New Jersey) - 82,500

AT&T Stadium (Dallas) - 80,000

Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City) - 76,416

NRG Stadium (Houston) - 72,220

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) - 71,000

SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles) - 70,240

Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) - 69,796

Lumen Field (Seattle) - 69,000

Levi’s Stadium (San Francisco) - 68,500

Gillette Stadium (Boston) - 65,878

Hard Rock Stadium (Miami) - 64,767

BC Place (Vancouver) - 54,500

BMO Field (Toronto) - 30,000 *could expand to 45,000 for World Cup.

Estadio Azteca (Mexico City) - 87,523

Estadio BBVA (Monterrey) - 53,500

Estadio Akron (Guadalajara) - 49,850

New format

The 2026 World Cup is set to feature 48 teams instead of 32, with FIFA deciding to expand the tournament.

The actual format of the competition has not yet been confirmed, with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino recently pondering a three-team group stage. FIFA are yet to decide on the fomat of the expanded competition, while there has been talk of legal action from some of the European leagues due to the greater workload being asked of players with the increase of teams and increase of games being played by each team as a result.