2026 World Cup host cities: Full list of stadiums in USA, Canada and Mexico

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Latest update on 2026 World Cup stadium

California's state-of-the-art SoFi Stadium, which was considered a potential 2026 World Cup final host, is now reportedly set to be excluded from the tournament completely. This comes after a disagreement between the stadium owners, Stan Kroenke's company, and the tournament organisers, FIFA.

The disagreement, ESPN reports, revolves around the width of the stadium's field, which isn't currently wide enough to accommodate a football pitch under FIFA regulations. Renovating the new stadium to fit these regulations would cost significant sums, sums which Kroenke is hesitant to pay. More updates to follow on Football Ground Guide. For now, here are the full details on what we know in general about the 2026 World Cup host cities.

2026 World Cup host cities

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be held across three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America (USA).

It is the first football World Cup to be hosted across three nations, and the first since 2002 to be hosted by more than one nation. In that edition, where Brazil triumphed 2-0 over Germany in the final, South Korea and Japan were joint hosts.

The North American trio's bid triumphed over a bid by Morocco. The final vote was held at the 86th FIFA Congress in Moscow in 2018, held on the eve of the 2018 World Cup, which was won by France with a 4-2 final victory against Croatia. The Canada-Mexico-USA bid received 134 votes, Morocco received 65 votes, while Iran refused to vote for either country.

Key facts about the 2026 World Cup location

• It is the first men's World Cup since 2002 to be hosted across more than one country.
• It is the first football World Cup to be hosted across three countries.
• Canada will be the fifth country to host both a men's and women's World Cup. They hosted the 2015 Women's World Cup.
• Mexico will become the first country ever to host three men's World Cups, having hosted alone in 1970 and 1986.
• The United States will be the first country to host the men's and women's World Cups both on two separate occasions (men's: 1994, 2026; women's: 1999, 2003).

How many cities are in the World Cup 2026?

There are sixteen 2026 World Cup host cities. Eleven are in the USA, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

However, the World Cup will not be organised country-by-country, but rather in a regional format.

Western Division: Vancouver (Canada), Guadalajara (Mexico), Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles (all USA).

Central Division: Monterrey, Mexico City (both Mexico), Kansas City, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta (all USA).

Eastern Division: Toronto (Canada), Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Miami (all USA).

2026 World Cup host cities bidding process

Once the North American bid for the tournament had won, cities in each of the three countries began vying to be one of the 16 chosen.

In total, 41 cities were involved in the bidding process to be host cities. This included 45 stadiums, two of which had yet to be built at the time.

Nine of these cities and arenas were rejected at the first stage of the process, and a further nine stadiums and cities after a second phase.

Three other stadiums in three cities withdrew themselves from the process due to frustration at FIFA's reluctance to discuss financial details. These three cities were Chicago, Minneapolis and Vancouver. The latter then rejoined Canada's bid when Montreal dropped out after being unable to source funding to renovate their Olympic Stadium.

This left a final number of 24 stadiums in 24 cities, which was then whittled down to 16, announced by FIFA on 16 June 2022.

There are some basic FIFA regulations that must be met to be a World Cup host stadium. This includes capacity requirements, of a minimum of 40,000 for group stage games, 60,000 for quarter-finals and for the opening game or World Cup final, 80,000 capacity.

Full list of 2026 World Cup host stadiums

2026 World Cup host cities in the USA (11)

Lumen Field, Seattle

Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Capacity: 69,000 (up to 72,000)
Opened: 2002
Cost: $430m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC (MLS), OL Reign (NWSL),
Roof: No
Architects: Ellerbe Becket + LMN Architects

Levi’s Stadium, San Francisco

Location: Santa Clara, California, USA
Capacity: 70,909
Opened: 2014
Cost: $1.3bn
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the San Francisco 49ers (NFL)
Roof: No
Architects: HNTB

SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles

Location: Inglewood, California, USA
Capacity: 70,240
Opened: 2020
Cost: $5.5bn (including wider development)
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers (NFL)
Roof: Yes
Architects: HKS

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Capacity: 76,416
Opened: 1972
Cost: $43m (initial), $375m (2007-2010 renovation)
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL)
Roof: No
Architects: Kivett & Myers

AT&T Stadium, Arlington

Location: Arlington, Texas (near Dallas), USA
Capacity: 80-105,000
Opened: 2009
Cost: $1.3bn
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of NFL team Dallas Cowboys
Roof: Yes, retractable
Architects: HKS

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Capacity: 71,000-83,000
Opened: 2017
Cost: $1.6bn
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta United FC (MLS)
Roof: Yes, retractable
Architects: HOK (now Populous)

NRG Stadium, Houston

Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Capacity: 72,220
Opened: 2002
Cost: $352m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to Houstan Texans (NFL) and often US men's national soccer team and Mexico national football team.
Roof: Yes, retractable.
Architects: Populous

Gillette Stadium, Boston

Location: Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA
Capacity: 65,878-70,000
Opened: 2002
Cost: $325m
Hosted football before: 
Main use: Home to the New England Patriots (NFL) and New England Revolution (MLS)
Roof: No
Architects: HOK (now Populous)

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Capacity: 69,328
Opened: 2003
Cost: $512m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL)
Roof: No
Architects: NBBJ

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami

Location: Miami Gardens, Florida, USA
Capacity: 67,518
Opened: 1987
Cost: $115m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home to the Miami Dolphins (NFL)
Roof: No
Architects: HOK (now Populous)

MetLife Stadium, New Jersey

Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA
Capacity: 82,500
Opened: 2010
Cost: $1.6bn
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of NFL teams New York Giants and New York Jets
Roof: No
Architects: HOK (now Populous)

2026 World Cup host cities in Mexico (3)

Estadio Akron, Guadalajara

Location: Zapopan, Mexico
Capacity: 48,071
Opened: 2010
Cost: $200m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of CD Guadalajara (Liga MX)
Roof: No
Architects: Jean Marie Massaud & Daniel Pouzet, Populous, VFO

Estádio BBVA BANCOMER, Monterrey

Location: Guadalupe, Mexico
Capacity: 53,500
Opened: 2015
Cost: $200m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of CF Monterrey (Liga MX)
Roof: No
Architects: Populous/VFO

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Capacity: 87,523
Opened: 1966 (renovated 1986, 1999, 2013, 2016)
Cost: MAX$260m
Hosted football before: Yes, including two World Cup finals (1970, 1986)
Main use: Home of Club America, Cruz Azul (Liga MX) and the Mexico national team
Roof: No
Architects: Pedro Ramírez Vázquez + Rafael Mijares

2026 World Cup host cities in Canada (2)

BC Place Stadium, Vancouver

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Capacity: 54,405
Opened: 1983 (renovated 2009, 2011)
Cost: Can$307m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of the Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS)
Roof: Yes, retractable
Architects: Studio Phillips Barratt

BMO Field, Toronto

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Capacity: 45,736
Opened: 2007
Cost: Can$62,9m
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of Toronto FC (MLS)
Roof: No
Architects: Brisbin Brooks Beynon Architects

2026 World Cup semi-final stadiums

FIFA regulations stipulate that World Cup quarter-final venues must have a minimum capacity of 60,000 to meet demand. So, while there has been no announcement made yet of the 2026 World Cup semi-final host stadiums, we can rule out a few to begin with.

The stadiums which will be unable to host the World Cup semi-finals in 2026 are Guadalajara's Estadio Akron, Monterrey's Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Toronto's BMO Field and Vancouver's BC Place Stadium.

The stadiums eligible to host the semi-finals are all 11 of those in the USA and Mexico City's iconic Estadio Azteca.

What city will host 2026 World Cup final?

The 2026 World Cup final host stadium is yet to be announced but we know a decision is coming soon and two venues are in the running: Arlington's AT&T Stadium and New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. Read more about the decision on the World Cup final stadium here on Football Ground Guide.

Where is the next World Cup 2030?

The bidding process for the 24th FIFA World Cup, and the centennial competition, was launched in 2022 and there are two major candidates, both of which are joint bids.

Europe will compete to host it with a Spain–Portugal–Morocco bid, while South America are presenting a remarkable four-country bid of Uruguay–Argentina–Chile–Paraguay. The latter would return the World Cup to Uruguay, who hosted the very first edition in 1930, which they won.