A guide to the 2026 World Cup:
Where: U.S., Mexico and Canada
Dates: Opens June 11 with match featuring Mexico in Mexico City. July 14: Semifinal game in Dallas. July 15: Semifinal game in Atlanta. July 19: Final in New York/New Jersey
Host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle in the U.S., Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
Championship match: July 19 in New York/New Jersey
Number of teams: 48. The U.S., Canada and Mexico are exempt from qualifying as hosts.
Out of 207 teams competing for a spot in the World Cup, the number that will qualify from each confederation (continent): Africa: 8; Asia: 9; North America: 3 more besides the U.S., Mexico and Canada; South America: 6; Oceania: 1; Europe: 16; Playoffs: 2 (to determine the last two teams in the field)
Number of matches: 104
The expanded format: After qualifying, the final tournament will start with 12 groups of four teams each. Each team will play each other once. Winners get three points. A draw will result in each team getting one point. The most recent editions featured 32 teams broken into eight groups of four. In the expanded format, the top two teams from each group, plus the eight best third-place teams, will advance to the knockout rounds.
Most successful teams: Brazil (won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002); Germany (1954, 1974, 1994, 2014); Italy (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006); Argentina (1978, 1986, 2022); France (1998, 2018); Uruguay (1930, 1950)
When were World Cup matches last played in the U.S.? 1994
Has the U.S. ever won? No. The closest it came was the quarterfinals in Uruguay in 1930 and the quarterfinals in South Korea in 2002.
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