The FIFA World Cup 2026 will start on June 11, opening the biggest tournament in the competition’s 96-year history and the first to bring 48 teams into one field. The event will stretch across six confederations of competition through a new format that divides the teams into 12 groups of four.
The top two teams in each group, along with the eight best third-placed teams, will move on to the round of 32 before the tournament continues through the last 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final. Nearly a quarter of FIFA’s 211 national member associations will have a team in the field, a sign of how far the competition has widened from the old 32-team setup.
The scale of that expansion is not just sporting. FIFA said in a release in mid-April that the World Trade Organization estimated the expanded tournament would generate $80.1bn in gross output, including $30.5bn for the United States, the cohost. FIFA also expects to generate $11bn in World Cup revenue this year, money that president Gianni Infantino says will be returned to the game across the globe.
“That goes in 211 countries all over the world, to allow football projects, academies, stadiums, pitches, competitions for girls, for boys, in 211 countries – more than the UN – to be played and organised,” Infantino said on April 15. He added that three quarters of member associations would probably not be able to organize sport without the support that comes from a competition like the World Cup.
The move to 48 teams has been sold as the latest step in a long expansion. Arsene Wenger, speaking in December, called it a natural evolution and said the tournament has moved from 13 teams in 1930 to 16, then to 24 teams in 1982 and 32 in 1998. He said 48 teams is the right number, arguing that more countries want a place as the World Cup nears its 100th year in 2030.
That history helps explain why the June 11 kickoff matters beyond the first whistle. The 2026 event replaces the old eight-group format with 12 groups and a longer path to the final, and it will bring more countries, more matches and more money into the same competition. The question now is not whether the World Cup has changed. It has. The question is how well the new scale works once the tournament starts.
