A total of 16 venues make up the map of the World Cup 2026, distributed in three countries: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico; Toronto and Vancouver in Canada; and Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle in the United States.
Thirty-two years later, the Soccer World Cup returns to North America, after the 1994 edition held in the United States, in which Brazil was crowned champion on penalties. That tournament was held between June 17 and July 17, with 52 games and 141 goals, and had the Russian Oleg Salenko and the Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov as top scorers, both with 12 goals.
The 2026 World Cup referee team will be made up of 52 referees, 88 assistants and 30 video officials, from 50 federations of the six confederationsunder the “traditional FIFA principle of prioritizing quality above all else,” as the organization explained.
In total, 1,248 players may be registered in the competition, once the 48 teams present their final lists of between 23 and 26 players, with the obligation to include at least three goalkeepers.
The tournament will also feature the participation of 50,000 volunteers, selected from more than a million applications. “This team, as diverse as football, includes participants between 18 and over 80 years old.” coming from all corners of the planet,” FIFA detailed.
The stadium with the greatest capacity will be Dallas, with 94,000 spectators. Opened in 2009, it is the home of the five-time Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. and will host at least two matches of the Argentine team.
FIFA expects that some 6.5 million fans will attend the 104 matches that will make up this edition of the tournament.
The demand for tickets has been massive: the organization received 500 million requests in just 33 days, from 211 countries. The highest requests were registered in the host countriesin addition to Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, England, Portugal and Germany, with an average of 15 million daily requests.
As for awards, the FIFA will distribute 871 million dollars (742.8 million euros) among the 48 participating teams, 15% more than initially budgeted. Each team will receive 10 million of dollars just for participating.
Finally, the organization estimates that some 6 billion people will follow the World Cup through different platforms. The tournament will start on June 11 and conclude on July 19, 2026.