The draw for the 2026 World Cup has happened in Washington DC on Friday, December 5 but the full schedule for the tournament will be released at a different time.
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42 out of the 48 teams have confirmed their spot at the 2026 World Cup next summer, with games held across the USA, Mexico and Canada and the three hosts already know where they will play their group stage games.
But where will everyone else play, and when?
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Here are all the details you need to know.
When will the 2026 World Cup schedule be released?
It has been confirmed by FIFA that even though we know which teams are in each of the 12 groups, we will not know where they are playing until Saturday, December 6.
Why? Here’s the explanation from FIFA:
“While the Final Draw will determine which teams play each other in the group stage, the updated match schedule, including the stadium assigned to each match and the respective kick-off time, will be confirmed on Saturday, 6 December.
“The match allocation process that follows the draw aims to ensure the best possible conditions for all teams while, where possible, enabling fans all over the world to watch their teams play live across different time zones.”
So, basically, now that the groups are drawn FIFA will then place the games in the best location possible when it comes timezones.
Therefore teams from Asia and Europe will likely play earlier in the day and be based on the East Coast, while teams from North, Central and South America will play in the later games and that probably means they will be based on the West Coast for the group stage.
It is expected that the 2026 World Cup schedule in full will be released by FIFA at just after 12pm ET on Saturday, December 6.
