The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the biggest in the tournament's history, will kick off tomorrow with 48 teams competing for football's most prestigious title.
The tournament, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, marks a significant expansion from the 32-team format that has been in place since the 1998 World Cup in France.
The three host nations have qualified automatically, while the remaining 45 teams secured their places through a two-year qualifying campaign across FIFA's six continental confederations.
The expanded competition will feature 12 groups of four teams each.
The top two teams from every group will automatically progress to the knockout stage, along with the eight best third-placed teams, creating a Round of 32 for the first time in World Cup history.
Defending champions Argentina will be aiming to retain the title they won at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
In the opening match, South Africa will play Mexico tomorrow at 7am.
A total of 104 matches will be played during the tournament, including 72 group-stage games and 32 knockout matches, a significant increase from the 64 matches played at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Matches will be staged across 16 cities in the three host countries.
The United States will host the majority of the games, with 78 matches across 11 stadiums, while Mexico and Canada will each host 13 matches.
The final will be played on the 20th of July at New York New Jersey Stadium in front of an expected crowd of 82,500 fans.
Source: FIFA
