This is how the 48-team World Cup approved by FIFA for 2026 will be played

The FIFA Council today unanimously approved the new format for the next World Cup football soccer 2026 which will be held in United States, Mexico and Canada with the participation of 48 selected.

After the meeting of the Bureau of the Council in the city of Kigali, RwandaFIFA published a statement with the official announcement of the calendar for the next World Cup, which will have as a novelty the inclusion of 16 new participants.

Despite the initial idea of ​​16 groups of three teams, FIFA president Gianni Infantino proposed a format that would keep the same system of the previous cups in the initial phase.

The 48 selected will be divided into 12 groups of four and each will play three games. They will pass the zone two first and the eight best third.

The 32 classified will advance to an eliminatory instance of 16th Finals. In this way, those who reach the match for the title they will play 8 gamesone more than with the previous format.

The experience with groups of four teams is positive and FIFA considered that it should not be changed, based on what was the World Cup in Qatar, with many areas that were defined on the last date.

There will be 109 games in 39 days but the window for the entire World Cup will remain in 56 dayssomething that the clubs had claimed so as not to lose the players any longer.

The distribution in venues would be 78 meetings in territory United States, 13 in Canada and another 13 in Mexico. The semifinals and the final will be in the USA.

The decisive duel will be on Sunday July 19, 2026, with stadium to be defined. The start has not yet been confirmed but it would be for June 9 or 10.

The venues will be 3 in Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey), 2 in Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) and 11 in the United States (Seattle, Boston, New York, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta)

According to FIFA, this new design “mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all teams play a minimum of three games» and at the same time “provides a balanced rest time between the competing teams.