Since the 2018 FIFA Congress picked the United States, Mexico, and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup—officially known as the United bid—, the three North American countries have been working to deliver the next edition of the most prestigious football tournament in the globe.
The 2026 World Cup will become the first to include 48 competing teams, expanded from 32. Despite the confusion around the unconfirmed tournament format, the three hosting countries do not need to build new stadiums —unlike the 2022 Qatar World Cup preparation process— but instead, some stadia will take the chance to upgrade their installations, including Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, Arlington's AT&T Stadium and Toronto's BMO Field.
The Canadian stadium needs to almost triple its seats in order to meet FIFA's minimum capacity requirements: stadiums must have at least 40,000 seats, while those hosting quarter-finals must have a minimum of 60,000 and, finally, those fields where the opening ceremony or final will take place must have a capacity of at least 80,000 seats.
As of 2022, the 2026 FIFA World Cup stadiums will be divided into sixteen venues: 11 in the United States, 3 in Mexico, and the remaining 2 in Canada.
These are the 2026 World Cup stadiums:
United States
Lumen Field / Ellerbe Becket + LMN Architects
Seattle
Levi’s Stadium / HNTB
San Francisco
SoFi Stadium / HKS
Los Angeles
Arrowhead Stadium / Kivett & Myers
Kansas City
AT&T Stadium / HKS
Arlington
Mercedes-Benz Stadium / HOK
Atlanta
NRG Stadium / Populous
Houston
Gillette Stadium / Populous
Boston
Lincoln Financial Field / NBBJ
Philadelphia
Hard Rock Stadium / HOK
Miami
MetLife Stadium / HOK
New Jersey
Mexico
Estadio Akron / Jean Marie Massaud & Daniel Pouzet + Populous
Guadalajara
BBVA Bancomer Stadium / Populous + VFO
Monterrey
Estadio Azteca / Pedro Ramírez Vázquez + Rafael Mijares
Mexico City
Canada
BC Place Stadium / Studio Phillips Barratt
Vancouver
BMO Field / Brisbin Brooks Beynon Architects
Toronto
Via 2026 World Cup
