The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd edition of the global football showpiece, contested by national teams from FIFA’s member associations.
The tournament will take place from 11 June to 19 July 2026 and will be jointly hosted by 16 cities across three countries – 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.
It will be the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted by three nations.
Expanded Format
The 2026 tournament will mark a major milestone in World Cup history, with the competition expanding from 32 to 48 teams, allowing more nations than ever before to participate on football’s biggest stage.
Hosting History
The successful United 2026 bid defeated a rival proposal from Morocco during a final vote at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow.
It will be the first men’s World Cup since 2002 to be co-hosted by multiple countries.
With previous tournaments in 1970 and 1986, Mexico will become the first nation to host or co-host the men’s World Cup three times.
The United States, which previously hosted the tournament in 1994, returns as a host nation, while Canada will host or co-host the men’s World Cup for the first time.
Return to Summer Football
The 2026 World Cup will return to its traditional northern hemisphere summer schedule, following the 2022 tournament in Qatar, which was held in November and December.
Automatic Qualification and Debutants
As host nations, Canada, Mexico and the United States have automatically qualified for the tournament.
Several countries will make their World Cup debuts, including Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.
South Africa will return to the competition for the first time since hosting the tournament in 2010.
Argentina enter the tournament as the defending champions, having claimed their third World Cup title at Qatar 2022.
FIFA World Cup all-time top goal scorers
| Rank | Player | Goals | Matches | Goals per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miroslav Klose | 16 | 24 | 0.67 |
| 2 | Ronaldo | 15 | 19 | 0.84 |
| 3 | Gerd Müller | 14 | 13 | 1.08 |
| T4 | Just Fontaine | 13 | 6 | 2.17 |
| T4 | Lionel Messi | 13 | 26 | 0.50 |
| T6 | Kylian Mbappé | 12 | 14 | 0.86 |
| T6 | Pele | 12 | 14 | 0.86 |
| T8 | Sándor Kocsis | 11 | 5 | 2.20 |
| T8 | Jürgen Klinsmann | 11 | 17 | 0.65 |
| T10 | Helmut Rahn | 10 | 10 | 1.00 |
| T10 | Gabriel Batistuta | 10 | 12 | 0.83 |
| T10 | Gary Lineker | 10 | 12 | 0.83 |
| T10 | Teófilo Cubillas | 10 | 13 | 0.77 |
| T10 | Thomas Müller | 10 | 19 | 0.53 |
| T10 | Grzegorz Lato | 10 | 20 | 0.50 |
Players in bold are still active
