In just a couple of days the 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to begin. The tournament runs from June 11th to July 19th, 2026.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States are hosting the tournament, and the 48 teams that qualified.

This year’s edition is the largest World Cup in history. Previously, only 32 teams qualified for the tournament.

The increase in the number of teams will see an increase in the number of Groups – from eight to 12 Groups, as well as an additional round for the knockout stages.

Here’s how the Groups break down:

Group A
Mexico
South Africa
South Korea
Czech Republic

Group B
Canada
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Qatar
Switzerland

Group C
Brazil
Morocco
Haiti
Scotland

Group D
United States
Paraguay
Australia
Turkey

Group E
Germany
Curaçao
Ivory Coast
Ecuador

Group F
Netherlands
Japan
Sweden
Tunisia

Group G
Belgium
Egypt
Iran
New Zealand

Group H
Spain
Cape Verde
Saudi Arabia
Uruguay

Group I
France
Senegal
Iraq
Norway

Group J
Argentina
Algeria
Austria
Jordan

Group K
Portugal
DR Congo
Uzbekistan
Colombia

Group L
England
Croatia
Ghana
Panama

The top 32 teams after the Group stage will advance to the knockout stage. The top two seeded teams in each group will automatically advance to the knockout stage. The third place teams from each group will be ranked 1-12 with the top 8 teams advancing.

This is the first time since the 2002 that more than one country is hosting the tournament, and the first time that three countries are hosting. This is Mexico’s third time hosting the tournament (1970 & 1986), the United States’ second time hosting (1994) and Canada’s first time hosting the tournament.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States all qualified as host countries. Argentina, the defending 2022 Champions qualified and will be defending their title.

Four countries – Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan – are all making their first appearances in the tournament.

This is Qatar’s second appearance in the tournament, following their automatic qualification as the hosts of the last World Cup in 2022. This is the first time they earned their qualification through the team’s performance pre-tournament.

DR Congo and Haiti are making their second appearances in the tournament. Both end a 52 year drought, having both competed back in 1974.

Austria, Norway, and Scotland all return for the first time since 1998.

New Zealand is returning to the tournament for the first time since 2010, and is the lowest ranked team to qualify, ranking 85th in the world.

Five teams that qualified for the 2022 tournament – Cameroon, Denmark, Poland, Serbia, and Wales -failed to qualify in 2026.

Italy, the four time winner of the World Cup, is making history with its’ third straight time that they failed to qualify for the tournament following their loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European playoff final. Italy is also the only former champion team to miss the 2018, 2022, and 2026 tournaments.

Entering the tournament, eight countries have won the World Cup:

Brazil (5 times)
Germany (4 times)
Italy (4 times)
Argentina (3 times)
France (2 times)
Uruguay (2 times)
England (1 time)
Spain (1 time)

With so many groups, and the third place teams having to earn their place in the knockout stage, I will not try to predict the 32 teams to qualify for the knockout stage. Although, I do think that some teams should make it to the knockout stage: Mexico (Group A), Switzerland (Group B), Brazil (Group C), Paraguay (Group D), Germany (Group E), Netherlands (Group F), Belgium (Group G), Spain (Group H), Uruguay (Group H), France (Group I), Argentina (Group J), Portugal (Group K), Colombia (Group K), England (Group L), Croatia (Group L). This list includes 15 of the 32 teams.

I hope that Team Canada qualifies for the knockout stages, and being in the same group as Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Qatar in their group so there is a chance that Canada can advance either as the second place team in Group B or as a third place finisher.

All I can say is that I hope that the teams all play hard and earn a chance to advance.