FIFA, the world governing body of football, has announced the schedule of the World Cup 2024.
According to the schedule released on Sunday, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will begin on June 11 in Mexico City and conclude with the final in New Jersey on July 19.
Scheduled to last for 39 days, this will be FIFA’s longest-ever World Cup. Earlier, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was completed in just 29 days.
48 teams will participate in the 2026 World Cup and 104 matches will be played in 16 different cities of three countries.
This time the football World Cup will be hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, out of which 78 matches will be played in the USA while 13 and 13 matches will be played in Canada and Mexico.
How many teams participated in the FIFA World Cup?
The FIFA World Cup used to feature 32 teams, but in 2026, 48 teams will participate in the tournament, with an additional knockout round.
The opening match of the tournament will be played by the Mexican team at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.
The FIFA tournament will be played in 12 groups of four teams, with the top two teams and the eight best third-placed teams progressing to the knockout stages.
The tournament has since been a straight knockout format with the finalists playing eight games instead of seven.
The tournament’s 16 host cities include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Monterrey, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver.
