The 2026 World Cup field is set. Forty-eight teams, 104 matches, three countries, and more political noise surrounding a football tournament than we've seen in decades. It kicks off 11 June in Mexico City and ends 19 July at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Between those two dates, the sport gets its biggest makeover since 1930.
Spain top the FIFA rankings and carry the best odds to lift the trophy. England and France — 2018 champions and 2022 runners-up respectively — are the second-tier favourites depending on which market you're looking at. Argentina, still riding the 2022 title, are chasing something no nation has done since Brazil in 1962: back-to-back World Cup wins. Brazil, with five titles, and Germany, with four, are never far from the conversation.
The Messi question nobody can answer yet
Lionel Messi will be 39 by the time the final is played. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said last week that his participation still isn't confirmed. Messi himself, in a late-2024 interview, said he'd "assess that on a day-to-day basis" once Inter Miami's preseason began. That's not a ringing endorsement. Groin issues have dogged him in recent years, and clearly he's not willing to commit until he knows his body is ready.
If he can run, he'll be there. That's the working assumption. But Argentina's odds deserve a second look depending on how that preseason goes.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, looks set to play his sixth World Cup for Portugal despite a hamstring issue that kept him out of March friendlies. Manager Roberto Martínez says there's no danger of him missing the tournament. Ronaldo is playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia and hasn't played in the US since 2014 — though he did visit the White House as Trump's guest in November, which is a sentence that tells you something about where football and politics are tangled right now.
The off-field mess is genuinely complicated
Trump's travel bans directly affect fans from four qualified nations: Iran, Haiti, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire. A separate US State Department policy — taking effect Thursday — requires visitors from Algeria, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Tunisia to front a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the country. That one has no exemption for athletes or officials, which creates a real logistical problem that FIFA hasn't fully resolved.
Iran's situation is the most volatile. After US and Israeli airstrikes began in February, officials gave contradictory signals about participation. The federation president suggested boycotting the US "but not the World Cup", floating the idea of moving their matches to Mexico. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Tuesday that Iran "are going to play" and there are no "Plans B or C." Trump, separately, said Iran shouldn't play "for their own life and safety." That's where things stand.
Then there's the ICE question. The acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement described their World Cup presence as a "key part" of security at a congressional hearing in February, and didn't rule out tactical enforcement teams operating near venues. Legislation has been introduced to block ICE from conducting raids within a mile of matches or fan festivals — it hasn't passed.
What the expanded format actually changes
This is the first 48-team World Cup, up from 32. The US gets 78 of the 104 matches; Mexico and Canada get 13 each. From the quarter-finals onwards, it's an all-US affair. The prize money hits a record $50m for the winners, with $33m for the runners-up and $727m distributed across all 48 participants.
The extra round — a round of 32 — matters for the record books too. Just Fontaine's all-time single-tournament record of 13 goals was scored across six matches in 1958. A finalist now plays eight. The arithmetic shifts: you'd need 1.75 goals per game to break it, compared to Fontaine's 2.2 clip. Still unlikely, but less impossible than it's ever been.
A few other format changes worth knowing: every match includes two three-minute hydration breaks, one at the 22-minute mark of each half, regardless of weather or whether the stadium is air-conditioned. Broadcasters can cut to ads during those breaks. Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentinian managing the USMNT, has already signalled his displeasure. The commercial reality of hosting this tournament in America won that argument before it started.
- Opening match: Mexico vs South Africa, Estadio Azteca, 11 June
- USMNT opener: USA vs Paraguay, Inglewood, California, 12 June
- Final: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 19 July
- Prize money: $50m for the winners, $727m total distribution
- Debutants: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan
- Last-minute tickets: FIFA's sales phase opened Wednesday; resale marketplace opens Thursday
Curaçao — population 165,000, the smallest nation ever at a World Cup — qualified through Concacaf after their coach Dick Advocaat resigned in late February for family reasons. Four-time champions Italy aren't there. That's the kind of tournament this is.
