China News Service, Beijing, February 5th. On February 5th, Beijing time, FIFA announced the 2026 World Cup schedule for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The World Cup will kick off on June 11, 2026. The opening game will be played at the iconic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, and the final will be played in New York on July 19.
In addition, Toronto, Mexico City and Los Angeles will host the first group matches of Canada, Mexico and the United States respectively.
The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. There will be a total of 16 host cities, including 11 in the United States, 3 in Mexico, and 2 in Canada. This will be the first time in history that the World Cup will be co-hosted by three hosts. A total of 104 games will be played in the World Cup, which will feature 48 teams.
The Azteca Stadium in Mexico City is quite famous in the history of the World Cup. It was the venue for the 1970 World Cup final and the 1986 World Cup final. It witnessed the champions Pele and Maradona respectively lifting the championship trophy. The opening game of the 2026 World Cup will start here, and this stadium will also become the first stadium to host World Cup events three times.
In addition, Miami will host the World Cup bronze medal game, and Dallas and Atlanta will host the semifinals. Dallas is also the city with the most games in this Cup, with a total of 9 games scheduled to be played here.
FIFA stated that in order to minimize travel costs for teams and fans and increase players' rest time between games, FIFA conducted in-depth communications with the head coach, technical director, team doctor and other team related parties and formulated a The schedule and group stage draw ceremony will be held at the end of 2025. The matchup situation and kick-off time will be determined after the draw ceremony.
FIFA President Infantino said that with the announcement of the schedule, the 2026 World Cup is gradually approaching and he believes that this game will be a revolutionary event in the history of the World Cup. (over)