2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off Friday, bringing 39 days of football to North America

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the world's biggest football event, kicks off Friday in North America.

The tournament runs through July 19 across three co-host nations — the United States, Mexico and Canada — spanning 39 days. It marks the first World Cup co-hosted by three countries and the first shared hosting since the 2002 Korea-Japan edition, 24 years ago.

The official season opener takes place Friday at 4 a.m. Korean Standard Time at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, with Mexico facing South Africa. The final is set for July 20 at 4 a.m. KST at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Opening ceremonies will be held separately in each host country. Mexico City's ceremony comes first, beginning at 1:30 a.m. KST on Friday, followed by Toronto's at 10:30 a.m. KST the same day. The US ceremony at LA Stadium takes place at 8:30 a.m. KST on Saturday.

At the Mexico City ceremony, Shakira and Burna Boy are set to perform the official tournament anthem "Dai Dai." Toronto's ceremony will feature Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé. The US event will star Lisa of BLACKPINK alongside Katy Perry, Rema and Anitta.

The grandest performance of the tournament comes at halftime of the final — the first halftime show in World Cup history, a format previously seen only at the NFL's Super Bowl. BTS, Madonna and Shakira are among the performers. FIFA aims to raise $100 million for global children's education through the show.

The biggest change at the 2026 World Cup is the expansion of the field from 32 to 48 teams. The total number of matches has nearly doubled, rising from 64 to 104 — the most in tournament history.

The group stage will determine which teams advance to the knockout rounds. Twelve groups of four teams each will play a round-robin, with the top two finishers from each group — 24 teams in all — advancing automatically, joined by the eight best third-place finishers to complete a round of 32. From there, the tournament proceeds through the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

The expanded match schedule makes squad fitness and injury management more critical than ever for teams that advance deep into the knockout rounds. Brutal summer heat across North America in June and July adds to those concerns.

This tournament is expected to be the last World Cup for two of football's all-time greats: Lionel Messi, 38, of Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, of Portugal. Messi has scored 116 goals in 198 international appearances, including 13 goals in 26 World Cup matches. He lifted the trophy at the 2022 Qatar World Cup on his fifth attempt, scoring seven goals and adding three assists across seven matches from the group stage to the final. He took home the Golden Ball as best player and the Silver Boot as the second-highest scorer.

Messi had said after Qatar 2022 that it would be his last World Cup, but he has yet to retire from international duty, setting the stage for one final dance in North America.

Ronaldo has scored 143 goals in 226 international appearances — eight of them in 22 World Cup matches — and has won the UEFA European Championship (Euro 2016) and the UEFA Nations League (in the 2018-19 and 2024-25 seasons), but a World Cup title has eluded him throughout his career.

His best finish at the tournament remains fourth place, achieved at his debut World Cup in Germany in 2006. At the most recent edition in Qatar in 2022, Portugal fell in the quarterfinals.

Erling Haaland, 25, of Norway and Lamine Yamal, 18, of Spain will make their World Cup debuts this year. Yamal has scored six goals in 25 international appearances. Along with Kylian Mbappé, 27, of France, the two rank among the most valuable players in world football today.

Haaland, who has scored 55 goals in 49 international appearances, led Norway to its first World Cup in 28 years. Norway topped Group I of the European qualifying round, edging out Italy, with Haaland contributing 16 goals in eight matches.

Yamal turned professional in 2023 at just 15 and earned his first national team call-up the same year. At Euro 2024 the following year, he contributed one goal and four assists in six matches as Spain lifted the trophy. He is widely regarded as the player most likely to lead Spain to a second World Cup title, their first since the 2010 South Africa tournament.

Mbappé, runner-up at the 2022 Qatar World Cup after winning it in Russia in 2018, is hungry to reclaim the title. He has scored 56 goals in 96 international appearances and has netted 12 goals in 14 World Cup matches. Four more goals this tournament would make him the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.

The current record holder is Miroslav Klose of Germany, who scored 16 World Cup goals across four tournaments from the 2002 Korea-Japan edition through the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

This tournament will introduce "hydration breaks" for the first time. The breaks give players three minutes to hydrate at around the 22nd minute of each half.

The new rule resembles the "cooling breaks" used at the 2014 Brazil World Cup but differs in one key respect. Cooling breaks were applied at the discretion of medical staff when the wet-bulb globe temperature index exceeded 32 degrees Celsius, while hydration breaks will be mandatory regardless of weather conditions.

The decision reflects concern over the intense summer heat expected during the North American tournament. Some observers have noted that the breaks effectively turn football — a sport that traditionally offers no timeouts outside of halftime — into a four-quarter game.

South Korea's national team, coached by Hong Myung-bo, has firsthand experience of how disruptive the breaks can be. In a friendly against Ivory Coast in March, Korea lost momentum after the first-half hydration break and went on to lose 0-4. The squad has since incorporated the breaks into its training to better manage the tactical shifts they can bring.

Countdown timers for throw-ins, goal kicks and substitutions are another significant rule change. If a referee judges that a throw-in or goal kick is being deliberately delayed, a five-second countdown begins. If the time expires, possession transfers to the opposing team — a throw-in becomes the opponent's throw-in, and a goal kick becomes a corner kick for the opponent.

Substitutions will be subject to a 10-second countdown. Once the referee signals a substitution, the outgoing player must leave the pitch within 10 seconds; failure to do so means the incoming substitute cannot enter the field for one minute.

A rule targeting time-wasting through feigned injuries has also been introduced. A player who receives on-pitch treatment for an injury must leave the field and wait one minute after play resumes before returning.

VAR review will also expand beyond its existing applications — goals, penalty decisions, straight red cards and mistaken identity in disciplinary rulings — to cover corner kick decisions, second yellow card dismissals and cases of incorrect player identification for fouls.