The waiting time for this World Cup will be less than the transition from Russia 2018 to Qatar 2022, which was 4 and a half years.

With the title of ArgentinaThe Qatar 2022 World Cup has come to an end, but now a new process is coming towards 2026 , where Mexico, the United States and Canada will be the hosts.

The 23rd edition of the World Cup will present a tripartite organization for the first time, which places Mexico as the country that has hosted the World Cup the most times, being the third, while it is the second for the United States and the first for Canada.

It will also be the first time that a World Cup is played with 48 participants , which are 45 qualifiers and the 3 hosts, as recently confirmed by FIFA.

The merger of the United States, Mexico and Canada , stayed with the organization of the World Cup, by winning the fight against Morocco , and was made official on June 13, 2018 at the FIFA Congress, prior to the start of Russia 2018.

How will the 2026 World Cup be played?

There are 16 venues -11 cities in the United States, 2 in Canada and 3 in Mexico- in which between 80 and up to 104 games of the 48 nations that will qualify for the fair will be hosted; Likewise, the competition system could be changed, since now, the possibility of 16 groups of 3 teams is being studied , or failing that, maintaining groups of 4 countries, which would be divided into 12 sectors. The final phase would start with the Round of 16.

What are the 2026 World Cup venues?

For the United States they go: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York and Boston; in Mexico , Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City; while for Canada are: Vancouver and Toronto.

This is how the places for the 2026 World Cup will be distributed.

For this World Cup , which will be played in the summer of 2026 , the places will be distributed with 16 places instead of 13 for UEFA , Africa with 9 direct passes and 1 Repechage, Asia with 8 qualifiers by direct route. In CONMEBOL there are 6 direct and 1 Repechage, Oceania 1 place and 1 Repechage, and in Concacaf up to 7 places, since in addition to the 3 hosts there will be another 3 guest passes and 1 Repechage.

In Qatar , the World Cup was played by 32 teams , which played 64 games in 29 days; in 2026 there will be between 80 and 104 games in 32 days.

Source:  Fox & ESPN.