2026 World Cup schedule: FIFA reveals match times, locations
WASHINGTON — FIFA announced the start times for the tournament’s 104 matches on Saturday, a day after the draw for the expanded 48-nation tournament, with the final scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET on July 19.
The kickoff time for the final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, allows for prime-time broadcast in continental Europe, where it will be 9 p.m., and Britain, where it will be 8 p.m.
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The average temperature at 3 p.m. over the past 30 years in East Rutherford on July 19 is 83 degrees, according to AccuWeather.
Nine of the ten World Cup finals from 1978 to 2014 started between 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. ET. The exception was in 2002 in Japan, which started at 7 a.m. ET. The 2018 finals kicked off at 11 a.m. ET and the 2022 tournament championship took place in winter in Qatar at 10 a.m. ET.
The 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California began at 3:30 p.m. ET.
FIFA announced the schedule and venues after taking into account travel and broadcasting.
“Let’s just say it was a long – or short – night,” tournament director Manolo Zubiria said. “As I explained to some coaches earlier, we tried to find the right balance in terms of the preparation, the recovery that teams have to do in this very large footprint, the biggest World Cup ever, 16 cities, three countries, different weather conditions and time zones.”
Zubira said the objectives included “trying to minimize the travel of teams and fans to see their teams play, and obviously trying to see how best to expose this competition to the world, trying to find the right times for kick-offs in specific cities, taking into consideration certain restrictions.”
The World Cup opener in Mexico City on June 11 between El Tri and South Africa kicks off at 3 p.m. ET.
The semifinals begin at 3 p.m. ET on July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and at 3 p.m. the next day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, both with retractable roofs.
The quarterfinals begin at 4 p.m. on July 9 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and at noon (3 p.m. ET) the following day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The final two quarterfinals will take place on July 11, starting at 5 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and 8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Of the quarterfinal venues, SoFi has a roof but air from outside can come in, and the other three are open air.
FIFA announced on February 4 last year that the final was scheduled to take place in New Jersey and on June 12 revealed the venue-specific matchups for the new round of 16, round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final matches.
104 matches. Locked up.
THE #FIFAWorldCup 2026™ Match Schedule ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/ZYofjO8z41
– FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2025
Seventy-eight matches will take place in the United States, including all from the quarterfinals, and 13 each in Canada and Mexico.
At an event at the Capital Hilton, FIFA also announced the venues for the 54 group stage matches not finalized with Friday’s draw, which set the venues only for Groups A, B and D, which include co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States.
South Korea is the only team other than Canada and Mexico to have no games in the United States. She will play her first match in Guadalajara against the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland or North Macedonia, then face El Tri at the same venue and finish the round against South Africa in Monterrey.
The U.S. men’s national team’s first-round matches begin at 9 p.m. ET against Paraguay in Inglewood on June 12, at 3 p.m. ET against Australia in Seattle seven days later and at 7 p.m. on June 25 in SoFi against Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.
Japan’s Group F match against Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico on June 20 will be the 1,000th World Cup match.
Germany’s opening Group E match on June 14 against Curacao kicks off at noon local (1 p.m. ET) at NRG Stadium. Curaçao has the smallest population of a country that has reached the World Cup, with around 150,000 inhabitants.
“It will be played in Houston, which is a closed venue, indoors, so no one can complain about the heat, the weather, the wind or anything else,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
