FIFA confirms expanded the 2026 World Cup with a record of 104 matches. FIFA, the world’s governing organization of football, announced ahead of its congress in Kigali, Rwanda, that the 2026 World Cup will consist of 104 matches rather than the customary 64 games because of its expanded structure.
There will be 48 teams competing in the North American competition, up from 32. The initially intended format of 16 groups of three teams has been changed to 12 groups of four teams each, FIFA confirmed on Tuesday.
FIFA stated that the modified schedule “minimizes the danger of collision, ensuring that all teams play a minimum of three matches, and provides balanced recovery time between contending teams.”
The competition, which has 48 teams and is co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, will make its debut at this event.
FIFA confirms expanded 2026 World Cup with record 104 matches
In addition to the 80 games they previously had to host for the inaugural 48-team tournament, the 16 host cities—11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada—now have 24 more games to host.
A tournament that depends on employing high-income NFL stadiums will increase FIFA’s anticipated record revenue of at least $11 billion through 2026 by adding approximately 1.5 million more tickets.
According to the confirmed structure, the top two countries in each group, along with the eight best third-place teams, will advance to the knockout phase.
As a result, instead of the current seven games, the winners and the third and fourth-place teams will play a total of eight games.
There were just 24 teams competing in the World Cups that were last held in Mexico (1986) or the United States (1994).
Moreover, FIFA announced that starting in June 2025, a 32-team Club World Cup will be held every four years, reiterating the previous year’s announcement made in Qatar by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
After 2023, the existing format, which consists of an annual battle between seven teams, will be abandoned.
The 32-team Club World Cup will be open to confederation champions from 2021 through 2024, therefore Chelsea, Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Flamengo, and Seattle Sounders have already confirmed their participation.
A ranking system based on the same four years can also be used to determine Europe’s 12 entries. Two teams can advance from each nation, except the continental champions.
