The first 48-team World Cup broke attendance records across three host nations
The 2026 World Cup stretched across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States and, for the first time, 48 teams. It ran 39 days, drew nearly 7 million spectators, a record, and averaged 2.96 goals a game, the most since 1970. Spain lifted the trophy, conceding only once all tournament.
The expansion had critics long before a ball was kicked. Michel Platini floated a bigger field in 2013 and Gianni Infantino did so in 2016; opponents warned of too many fixtures and diluted quality, and accused Infantino of courting election votes by promising places to more countries. FIFA approved 48 teams on January 10, 2017, at first planning 16 groups of three. Fears that two sides could collude in a final group game helped push the design to 12 groups of four, backed by the FIFA Council on March 14, 2023.
The joint North American bid, launched on April 10, 2017, beat Morocco by 134 votes to 65 at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow in 2018. Mexico became the first nation to stage the finals three times, after 1970 and 1986; the United States hosted for a second time after 1994, and Canada for the first. American venues held 78 matches, including everything from the quarterfinals onward, while Canada and Mexico staged 13 each. Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan all appeared for the first time.
Total fixtures jumped from 64 to 104, and a new round of 32 meant semifinalists played eight games instead of seven. Several rule changes targeted time-wasting: substituted players had ten seconds to leave the pitch, referees could run a five-second countdown on throw-ins and goal kicks, and any player covering his mouth while confronting an opponent was sent off. Each half included a compulsory three-minute hydration pause, added to stoppage time because the clock kept running, and head-to-head points replaced overall goal difference as the first group tiebreaker.
For the first time, the four top-ranked teams in the world, Argentina, Spain, France and England, all reached the semifinals. Spain then edged the holders Argentina in the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium to collect their second title, and became the first country reigning over the men's and women's game simultaneously. Kylian Mbappé took a second straight Golden Boot with 10 goals and overtook everyone as the competition's all-time leading scorer, while Rodri won the Golden Ball. The tournament reportedly brought in a record $15 billion.
Source: 2026 FIFA World Cup
