100 Games Down, Four to Go: The Road to the FIFA World Cup Semi-Finals

After 100 matches over the last month across Canada, Mexico and the United States, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is down to just four teams: France, Spain, Argentina and England. Perhaps not coincidentally, those also happen to be the top four teams in the FIFA World Rankings. Notably, each of those nations has also all won the competition before — the first time in Men’s FIFA World Cup history that all semi-finalists are former champions.

For FIFA, it is the dream situation, and will serve as the perfect capstone to a tournament that has already broken attendance and viewership records and elevated soccer’s profile in the United States, long considered the sport’s sleeping giant. This week’s semi-finals are already attracting huge demand, with some fans making last-minute decisions to travel to the matches in the hope of seeing their team reach the biggest game in international men’s soccer.

Here is everything you need to know about the semi-finals, the teams themselves and how they got to this stage:

France

FIFA World Ranking: 1

World Cup Wins: 1998, 2018

2026 Base Camp: Boston and Waltham, Massachusetts

2026 FIFA World Cup Record: 6-0

• June 16: 3-1 win vs. Senegal at New York New Jersey Stadium
• June 22: 3-0 win vs. Iraq at Philadelphia Stadium
• June 26: 4-1 win vs. Norway at Boston Stadium
• June 30: 3-0 win vs. Sweden at New York New Jersey Stadium (Round of 32)
• July 4: 1-0 win vs. Paraguay in Philadelphia (Round of 16)
• July 9: 2-0 win vs. Morocco at Boston Stadium (Quarterfinals)

Approximate Miles Traveled: 2,000

Argentina

FIFA World Ranking: 2

World Cup Wins: 1978, 1986, 2022

2026 Base Camp: Kansas City, Kansas

2026 FIFA World Cup Record: 6-0

• June 16: 3-0 win vs. Algeria at Kansas City Stadium
• June 22: 2-0 win vs. Austria at Dallas Stadium
• June 27: 3-1 win vs. Jordan at Dallas Stadium
• July 3: 3-2 win vs. Cape Verde (after extra time) at Miami Stadium (Round of 32)
• July 7: 3-2 win vs. Egypt at Atlanta Stadium (Round of 16)
• July 11: 3-1 win vs. Switzerland (after extra time) at Kansas City Stadium (Quarterfinals)

Approximate Miles Traveled: 6,000 miles

Spain

World Cup Wins: 2010

FIFA World Ranking: 3

2026 Base Camp: Chattanooga, Tennessee

2026 FIFA World Cup Results: 5-1-0

• June 15: 0-0 draw vs. Cape Verde at Atlanta Stadium
• June 21: 4-0 win win vs. Saudi Arabia at Atlanta Stadium
• June 26: 1-0 win vs. Uruguay in Guadalajara, Mexico
• July 2: 3-0 win vs. Austria at Los Angeles Stadium (Round of 32)
• July 6: 1-0 win vs. Portugal at Dallas Stadium (Round of 16)
• July 10: 2-1  win vs. Belgium at Los Angeles Stadium (Quarterfinals)

Approximate Miles Traveled: 12,000 miles

England

World Cup Wins: 1966

FIFA World Ranking: 4

2026 Base Camp: Kansas City, Missouri

2026 FIFA World Cup Results: 5-1-0

• June 17: 4-2 win vs. Croatia at Dallas Stadium
• June 23: 0-0 draw vs. Ghana  at Boston Stadium
• June 27: 2-0 win vs. Panama at New York New Jersey Stadium
• July 1: 2-1 win vs. DR Congo at Atlanta Stadium (Round of 32)
• July 5: 3-2 win vs. Mexico in Mexico City (Round of 16)
• July 11: 2-1 win vs. Norway at Miami Stadium (Quarterfinals)

Approximate Miles Traveled: 14,000 miles

Host Cities

Dallas’ AT&T Stadium (Dallas Stadium) will welcome France and Spain for the opening semi-final on July 14 — which is also Bastille Day for the French people. The 94,000-capacity stadium has already hosted eight matches at 2026 FIFA World Cup, including Netherlands vs. Japan, England vs. Croatia and Portugal vs. Spain. No city will have hosted more matches during the tournament.

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta Stadium) will be the venue for the second semi-final on July 15, between arch rivals England and Argentina. The 75,000-capacity arena has already delivered seven matches at this summer’s tournament, including Spain vs. Cape Verde, England vs. DR Congo and Argentina vs. Egypt.

Miami Stadium will host the third-place game on July 18, while New York New Jersey Stadium will host the final on July 19.

Distance Traveled So Far

As the first FIFA World Cup to be staged across three host countries, this tournament was always going to be complex logistically.

If we take into account teams moving between their base camps and the stadiums where matches are played, England has traveled comfortably the furthest of the four remaining teams. The Three Lions have covered more than 14,000 miles by air between their Kansas City, Missouri, base camp to play matches in Atlanta, Boston, Mexico City, Miami and New York New Jersey, with two more matches still to play whatever happens in the semi-final.

Next up, Spain has logged more than 12,000 miles, switching between its base camp in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to games in Atlanta, Guadalajara, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Argentina has covered just shy of 6,000 miles, which is considerably less distance than England despite its base camp also being in Kansas City. The reigning champions have so far played matches locally in Kansas City, as well as in Dallas, Miami and Atlanta.

Finally, tournament favorite France has traveled under 2,000 miles in this World Cup so far — around one seventh of the distance that England has covered in the same time period. The French national team has played its six matches in only three locations to date, and all have been in the northeast corridor of the United States: New York New Jersey, Philadelphia and Boston.

Ticket Prices

As of July 13, the official FIFA site lists hospitality tickets for the first semi-final in Dallas (July 14) starting at $7,400, while tickets for the second semi-final in Atlanta begin at $4,400. While the ticket price has stayed relatively stable for the Atlanta game (up from $4,000 on July 10), ticket prices for the Dallas semi-final have almost doubled over the past three days as a rush of last-minute sales occurs.

Almost all normal seating tickets have been sold, and the majority of those that do remain available are being listed on resale/exchange marketplaces for more than $7,000.

Originally when the Final Draw was conducted in December last year, FIFA priced the face-value tickets for the semi-finals between $930 and $3,295. However, FIFA later introduced a small number of $60 tickets for fans of competing nations for all games, which were estimated to cover less than 0.5 percent of total inventory altogether.

The picture is similar across other third-party and ticket resale platforms.

Over the weekend, the highest-priced ticket for Atlanta was going for north of $14,000, according to StubHub. Both StubHub and Ticketmaster had the cheapest single tickets at more than $2,300.

Also on StubHub, the cheapest for a single ticket in Dallas was a little over $2,000 and the most expensive was more than $9,000.

Ticket prices on platforms including Ticombo and Vivid Seats were ranging between $1,000 and $2,300 for the two-semi finals. However, resale tickets for the final on Ticombo were due to cost at least $5,900.