Host Nations & Cities
The 2026 World Cup is historic because it is being co-hosted by this many North American countries.
What is three? (USA, Canada, and Mexico)
Breaking all previous records, this is the total number of national teams competing in the 2026 tournament.
What is 48 teams?
This is the only player on the field allowed to use their hands, and they must stay inside the 18-yard penalty box to do it.
Who is the goalkeeper?
This massive stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was selected to host the grand Final match on July 19, 2026.
What is the New York New Jersey Stadium (MetLife Stadium)?.
In the initial stage of the tournament, the field of teams is divided into this many groups of four.
What is 12 groups?
The color of the card a referee holds up to immediately eject a player from the game for a dangerous foul.
What is a red card?
This capital city hosted the legendary opening match of the tournament on June 11, 2026.
What is Mexico City?
Under the expanded format, teams now have to survive this brand-new, extra knockout round right after the group stage.
What is the Round of 32?
When a match is tied at the end of elimination rounds, teams play 30 minutes of overtime; if it's still tied, they use this dramatic method to pick a winner.
What is a penalty shootout?
To protect sponsor agreements, stadiums like Gillette Stadium and SoFi Stadium are temporarily using these types of names during the tournament.
What are generic (or sponsor-free) names? (e.g., Boston Stadium and Los Angeles Stadium).
To advance to the knockouts, a team must finish in the top two of their group, or be one of the eight best teams to finish in this position.
What is third place?
The action taken to restart play after the ball completely crosses over the sideline.
What is a throw-in?
Because eight of the official venues normally use artificial turf, stadiums had to install deep sand bases to grow this specific requirement for FIFA matches.
What is temporary natural grass?.
Because of the expanded bracket, the total number of matches played across the whole tournament jumped from 64 to this massive figure.
What is 104 matches?
A rule that states an attacking player cannot be closer to the opponent's goal line than the ball and the second-to-last defender at the moment the ball is passed to them.
What is offside?