2026 FIFA World Cup will be 23rd edition of FIFA World Cup. Canada, Mexico and United States were confirmed as the joint hosts of tournament on 13th June 2018. 2026 football world cup is going to be the biggest event ever as 48-teams to play in the championship for the first time.

Bidding Process

Bidding process took place in 2018 after corruption charges in the bidding process came to end for previous world cup tournaments. Canada, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Australia-New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Turkey were the potential and interested bidders for 2026 FIFA world Cup.

Canada, Mexico and USA won the bid to host 23rd edition of football world cup. United 2026 (Mexico, USA, Canada) got 134 votes against Morocco 65 votes and won bid for 2026 world cup hosting rights.

Teams

It will be first occasion when 48-teams to take participation in a FIFA World Cup 2026 as on 10 January 2017, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed the addition of new 16 teams to prestigious football event. During 67th FIFA Congress in Bahrain, FIFA Council approved slots for teams to compete in the tournament. Number of teams was upgraded for all six football confederations.

The following image represents 48-teams allocation for 2026 world cup.

Union of European Football Associations once again leading number of teams in the mega football event as 16 countries from UEFA confederation will play in the tournament. Confederation of African Football (CAF) got confirmed 25% increase in the no. of teams as their number boost from 5 to 9.5.

Confederation	Number of Teams from 2026 World Cup	Teams before 2026 world cup
AFC	8	4.5
CAF	9	5
CONCACAF	6	3.5
CONMEBOL	6	4.5
OFC	1	0.5
UEFA	16	13
Playoff	2	–
Total Teams	48	32

As Mexico, Canada and United States win hosting rights, these three teams qualified for the mega event. You can check complete 2026 World Cup teams here.

Groups

There will be 12 groups in FIFA World Cup 2026 and each will consist of 4 national football teams. Top two teams from each pool alongwith the best 8 third-place teams will head into the knockout stage.

1. Group A
2. Group B
3. Group C
4. Group D
5. Group E
6. Group F
7. Group G
8. Group H
9. Group I
10. Group J
11. Group K
12. Group L

Schedule

The opening match of tournament is set to kick off on (TBC) June meanwhile final to take place on July 19, 2026. The schedule of 2026 world cup will be announced in the near future.