Six ways the 2026 World Cup will be different

Usually, the World Cup is an event hosted by a single nation, but this has not always been the case. The 2002 World Cup broke new ground when Japan and South Korea, two nations that have not always had an easy relationship, teamed up to host the tournament. The 2026 World Cup goes one further, with three countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico — all hosting. While these countries have usually enjoyed good relations, US ties with Canada and Mexico have become strained since the start of President Donald Trump's second term in office.

Love it or hate it, the move to expand the World Cup from the previous 32 to 48 teams was a bold move by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. More teams mean many more games, a total of 104 compared to 64 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. This also means there will be 12 groups of four teams, compared to eight four years ago. An extra knockout round - the Round of 32 - has also been introduced to help whittle down the number of teams on the way to the final in New Jersey on July 19. That will be played on the 39th day of the tournament – 10 more than it took to complete the 2022 World Cup.

While critics will argue that increasing the number of teams could lower the overall quality of play, it has helped some countries qualify for a first-ever World Cup. Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan will be making their debuts on football's biggest stage. Of these, Curacao are the biggest underdogs, coming from a country with a population of under 160,000 and ranked number 82 in the world.

Several other first-timers have the chance to join via the qualifying playoffs in March – including North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and even New Caledonia.

This is not the first time a World Cup will be held over a large geographical area, but distances teams and fans will have to cover in 2026 will be a shock to the system after Qatar, which is smaller than Connecticut – the third smallest state in the United States. Farthest apart among the venues are Vancouver and Miami – 4,507 kilometers (2,800 miles). Germany stand to rack up 2,619 kilometers just to travel from Houston to Toronto to New Jersey for their group-stage matches – and that doesn't even take into account travel to and from their base camp, the location of which is yet to be announced.

While hydration breaks are not new to football, FIFA has announced that all matches at the 2026 World Cup will have two scheduled breaks – regardless of the weather conditions. Referees will be under instructions to halt games 22 minutes into each half so players can rehydrate, FIFA said in a statement.

Previously, referees were required to call cooling breaks 30 minutes into each half when the temperature at kickoff exceeded 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The change comes amid concerns about high temperatures expected in some of the host cities – as was the case at last summer's Club World Cup. FIFA has said it took this into account when determining kickoff times.

Two countries that have qualified for the World Cup, Iran and Haiti, are on a travel ban announced by US President Trump last June, meaning that as things stand, their fans won't be able to travel to the USA to support their teams. In December, President Trump imposed partial travel restrictions on two other countries qualified for the tournament, Ivory Coast and Senegal. The teams themselves should have no trouble entering the USA, though, as the Trump executive order makes exceptions for, among others, "any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state."

Where the games will actually be played is also in some doubt, as Trump has repeatedly threatened to move World Cup matches away from Democratic-run cities for "security" reasons. During a meeting at the White House in November, Infantino offered no push back: "Safety and security is the No. 1 priority for a successful World Cup," he said.