How will the 2026 World Cup work?

What is the 2026 World Cup?

The World Cup is the highest-profile event on the global football calendar. Taking place every four years in different host countries, it provides a major celebration of football and sees intense competition among many of the stars of the Bundesliga and other major leagues to win the World Cup for their national team - and write their place in football history.

The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico and will take place from 11 June to 19 July 2026. 

Who will take part?

It will be contested by national teams, with each country only able to select players that are born there or are otherwise eligible through family or citizenship grounds to represent them. 

While every edition of the World Cup since 1998 has featured 32 teams, an expanded pool of 48 nations will compete for glory in 2026 for the first time. USA, Canada and Mexico will definitely be there as automatically qualifying hosts, but the remaining 45 spots will be decided in a qualifying process running until March 2026.

What is the format?

The qualifying process is organised by the six international football confederations for Asia (AFC), Africa (CAF), North and Central America (CONCACAF), South America (CONMEBOL), Oceania (OFC) and Europe (UEFA). There are a different number of qualifying spots available for each confederation. 

The qualifying spots are distributed as follows:

• Europe: 16
• Africa: 9
• Asia: 8
• South America: 6
• North and Central America: 3 (in addition to the three automatically qualified hosts)
• Oceania: 1

There are an additional two qualifying spots available in an international play-off, which all confederations with the exception of Europe will send teams to. 

As for the finals, a draw will allocate all 48 qualified teams into 12 groups of four for the World Cup group stage. Each team will play the other teams in their group in a round-robin format, with the top two teams in each group and the eight third-placed sides with the best records advancing to the round of 32 knockout stages.

From then on, it's a straight knockout all the way to the final (plus a third place play-off for the two sides that lose in the semi-finals) with each match going into extra time and a penalty shoot-out, if required to determined a winner.

Where will the matches be played?

A total of 16 host cities have been chosen for the 2026 World Cup, which will be contested over a total of 104 matches. The opening match takes place at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and the final will be held in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The full list of host cities is as follows:

Canada

• Toronto
• Vancouver

Mexico

• Guadalajara
• Mexico City
• Monterrey

United States

• Atlanta
• Boston
• Dallas
• Houston
• Kansas City
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New Jersey (New York)
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• Seattle

Which Bundesliga stars will be in action?

We won't know for sure until qualification finishes and squads are announced ahead of the World Cup, but in the November 2024 international break dozens of players from Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs were called up by international teams and many will expect to feature in 2026. 

Among them could be Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala - who will hope to inspire Germany to glory, with Julian Nagelsmann set to pack his squad with Bundesliga talent, should Germany qualify. 

Bayern Munich star striker Harry Kane will hope to captain England as they renew their quest to end their long wait for a major trophy following their 1966 World Cup win. New England coach Thomas Tuchel might have found a key role for Borussia Dortmund talent Jamie Gittens in the Three Lions' team by then. 

Defending champions Argentina could well call upon Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Exequiel Palacios, while France have the Bayern trio of Dayot Upamecano, Kingsley Coman and Michael Olise at their disposal.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's Joe Scally is among a contingent of American Bundesliga players hoping to represent hosts USA, while fellow hosts Canada are set to have their hopes carried by Bayern's Alphonso Davies. 

Watch: All Harry Kane's Bundesliga hat-tricks so far

Who will win?

Germany are normally among the favourites at any tournament, and that will be especially true if they continue the strong development under Nagelsmann that saw them become unbeaten winners of their UEFA Nations League group.

2022 finalists France and Argentina will be difficult to beat, while European champions Spain, the beaten finalists in Berlin, England, and Brazil are also among the nations expected to contend for the crown.

There is always the chance of a surprise package advancing far into the tournament, with USA and Mexico likely to be boosted by home advantage and their passionate fan bases. 

We'll just have to sit back and watch all the action unfold in summer 2026 to see!