Were you at home watching Euro 2024 from home over the past few weeks, feeling like you were missing out on all the fun? Perhaps you’re convinced England will end 60 years of hurt in two years time and want to make sure you’re there?
If so, it’s time to start saving up for a trip to the 2026 World Cup, which takes place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The planet’s biggest tournament returns to North America for the first time since 1994, so what do you need to do to make sure you make it there as well?
FourFourTwo looks at how to go about getting tickets for what is set to be the biggest tournament ever.
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When and where does the 2026 World Cup take place?
The first thing you’ll want to do is to fire up your calendar app and block off June 11 to July 19, 2026, as that’s when the action will be taking place.
You may notice that that’s a longer than usual tournament, as FIFA have decided to expand the competition to include 48 teams, up from the previous number of 32. This means there will be 104 games, which is good news if you’re after tickets, as that’s the most we’ll have ever seen and a big jump from the 64 games played in Qatar in 2022.
Matches will be played in 16 cities across the three host countries. Canada will host games in Vancouver and Toronto, with Mexico’s host cities being Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
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Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium will host the tournament opener
The bulk of the action takes place in the USA, with matches being played in 11 host cities: Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, Dallas and New York City.
Fans heading the States may want to be aware that some of these host stadiums are a significant distance away from the nearest city – for example, the San Francisco matches are played in Santa Clara, at the 49ers Levi Stadium, while New York refers to the stadium in East Rutherford, which is in New Jersey.
What is the format of the tournament?
The World Cup has been expanded (Image credit: PA)
If you’re interested in tickets, you’ll want to know how the format of the competition differs this time, as the expansion to 48 teams means changes have had to be made.
Gone is the eight groups of four format where the top two qualify, as this tournament will feature 12 groups of four teams, where the top two qualify, plus the eight best third-placed teams – similar to this summer’s European Championship.
A total of 32 teams will be left standing after the group stage, meaning there will be a round of 32, then a round of 16, and so on.
How can I get tickers?
Fans gather outside Berlin’s Olympiastadion before the Euro 2024 final (Image credit: Future)
Unfortunately, we don’t know yet.
All you can do at the moment is head to FIFA’s website which has a page where fans can register their interest to get information about tickets when it becomes available.
What we can do though, is look at past precedents and see what the process has been for recent tournaments. Usually, there are three ways to get your hands on tickets.
First is via each country’s member associations, as the teams playing will get an allocation from FIFA. Most countries sell these via a loyalty basis – the FA, for example, hand England fans ‘caps’ for every game they attend prior to a tournament, rewarding their most loyal fans with the first opportunities to get tickets.
Action from the 1994 World Cup final in America (Image credit: Getty Images)
Then there are the sponsor tickets. Known by FIFA as the ‘football family’, the corporations that line the governing bodies coffers will get plenty of seats, so either get a job at Adidas or Coca Cola, or get entering competitions that they run.
Finally, the remaining tickets are likely to go on general sale and we will have to wait and see how FIFA handle this.
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