2026 World Cup: host countries, teams, matches, revenues, innovations… the tournament of all records

• First World Cup organised across three countries (United States, Canada and Mexico);
• first edition with 48 teams, instead of 32 from 1998 to 2022 (+50%), and 104 matches (instead of 64, +62.5%);
• a tournament staged across 16 stadiums, exactly twice as many as in Qatar in 2022 (although there were 20 in South Korea and Japan in 2002);
• $11bn (€9.4bn) in expected revenues, compared with $7.5bn (€7bn) for Qatar 2022;
• $871m (€755m) in prize money distributed to the participating teams, compared with $440m (€424m) for the 32 teams at the previous World Cup;
• $50m (€43.5m) for the winners, compared with $42m (€40.5m) four years earlier.

The 23^rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, which will kick off on Thursday 11 June 2026 (Mexico - South Africa in Mexico City, at 21:00 CET), is expected to break numerous records.

FIFA awarded the organisation of this World Cup to three Concacaf federations (US Soccer, FMF and Canada Soccer) at the Congress held in Moscow (RUS) on 13 June 2018.

The United States will host 78 of the 104 matches (75% of fixtures, but 100% from the quarter-finals onwards) in…