2026 World Cup match schedule and venue announced
For the first time on a large scale, three countries are going to host the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The opening match of the World Cup will be held on June 11, 2026 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico. The final will be held on July 19 at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, USA.
The upcoming World Cup will have several innovations. The number of teams and matches in the most prestigious tournament in world football is also growing at a significant rate. There will be 104 matches in this tournament of 48 teams. Whereas in the last World Cup in Qatar, the number of matches was 64 with the participation of 32 teams. FIFA has already released the venue and schedule of the entire tournament including the opening and final of the World Cup.
In the upcoming tournament, the number of teams and matches are increasing, but the duration of the tournament is not increasing. That is why 6 matches can be played on the field in one day. Argentinian media TYC Sports said so in a report.
The participating teams will compete in 12 groups. Each group will have four teams. From there, the top two teams in the group will qualify for the Super Sixteen. Mexico is in 'A' zone, Canada is in 'B' and USA is in 'D' due to being the host.
The group stage of the World Cup will run from June 11 to June 27, 2026. The last 32 matches will be played from June 29 to July 3. Apart from Mexico's Guadalajara and USA's Philadelphia, the remaining 14 venues will have the matches of this round. The two matches of this round will be in Los Angeles and Dallas.
Later, the last 16 round will be played from 4th to 7th July. The quarter-finals will be held from July 9 to 11, with four match venues in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston. The two semifinals will be held in Dallas and Atlanta on July 14 and 15 respectively. The third place match will be held in Miami on July 18. And the title fight on July 19.
The two cities of Canada, Toronto and Vancouver, have got the responsibility of organizing 13 matches, including 10 matches of the group stage. There will be 13 matches in Mexico. The games will be played in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Moneterre. The remaining 78 matches of the tournament will be played in 11 US cities.
Ikita Stadium has the privilege of hosting the most matches of the World Cup. More World Cup matches have not been organized anywhere else. While Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in the 1970 World Cup final, Pele won his third World Cup. Argentinian legend Diego Maradona excelled at the same venue. Maradona won the World Cup for Argentina in this stadium 16 years after the legendary Pele won the World Cup. In addition to the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals, a total of 17 other matches have been held at this famous stadium in Mexico. A total of five matches including the opening of the 2026 World Cup will be held today.
Earlier, USA hosted the 1994 World Cup. However, no match of the next World Cup will be held in any stadium of that World Cup. This is the first World Cup match to be held at MetLife Stadium with a capacity of 82,500 spectators. Apart from the finals, the grand venue hosts a total of seven matches in the upcoming season.
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