2026 FIFA World Cup: The Road to Glory Begins

On June 13, 2018, FIFA awarded hosting rights for the 2026 men’s World Cup to North America. Nearly eight years to the day, the largest World Cup in history is finally ready to kick off, with the opening match on Thursday in Mexico City between Mexico and South Africa.

It has been a long journey to the first World Cup to be staged across three host countries and 16 host cities, as well as the first edition to feature 48 national teams, and that road to glory will end at the Cup final on July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Yet what promises to be a global celebration of the sport and a unifier of cultures from across the world is being compromised by major concerns over the likely exclusion of some fans, staff and even referees due to escalating ticket prices, visa freezes and travel bans. Moreover, the complex logistics and the underwhelming bookings across the hospitality industry in host cities so far threaten to cast a shadow over the tournament throughout its five-week duration.

As the group stage kicks off, SportsTravel Senior Editor Paul Stevens dissects the major travel talking points and some predictions before the big kick-off:

[View the full list of confirmed base camps and the World Cup schedule here]

[Keep to date with all of the latest FIFA World Cup news at our World Cup Tracker here]

Longest Travel Distances

During the group stage, Bosnia-Herzegovina was set to have the longest travel route of any World Cup team, covering a distance of around 3,100 miles or 5,000km for its games in Toronto, Seattle and Los Angeles. It also has a base camp in Sandy, Utah, which it will utilize after its first game in Toronto against co-hosts Canada.

World Cup debutants Curaçao, the smallest nation to ever compete at a FIFA World Cup, will travel the longest distance, though, if we take into account the distances between its matches and base camp location. From its base camp in Boca Raton, Florida, the team will travel 6,285 miles to Houston, Philadelphia and Kansas City in the space of two weeks.

Reigning champion Argentina, on the other hand, will travel the least distance (461 miles) between its World Cup matches in Dallas and Kansas City, although the Mexican National Team will travel the least distance if we factor in its base camp location in Mexico City (625 miles)

Unforgettable Journeys

Literally speaking, New Zealand has the longest flight directly to its base camp location, in San Diego, California. If there were to be no stopovers, a direct flight from Auckland to San Diego would likely have taken just over 15 hours.

Figuratively speaking, however, no country has had a journey like Iran. Team Melli has had to contend with questions around its tournament involvement and a last-minute 420 mile base camp move from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Baja California, in Mexico due to the uncertainty over the Middle East conflict to arrive at the World Cup. The Iranian National Team will now have to travel in to the United States on the day of its matches and return to Mexico on the same day once it has played, and it is already due to travel twice to Los Angeles and once to Seattle.

As for historic journeys, Congo DR is returning to the World Cup after an absence of 52 years (having competed as Zaire in 1974), but its journey also has not been without its complications. Amidst an Ebola outbreak in the country caused by a rare species known as Bundibugyo, Congo DR has been forced to cancel and move pre-World Cup training camps and play behind closed doors before traveling to its base camp in Houston, Texas. Its scheduled games will take place in Houston, Guadalajara (Mexico) and Atlanta.

Cities in the Spotlight

New York/New Jersey is the host city for the World Cup Final on July 19, but it has plenty of compelling matches during the group stage, too.

The action at MetLife Stadium will get underway on June 13 between five-time winners Brazil and 2022 semi-finalists Morocco in Group G before a rematch of the 2002 World Cup opening match between France and Senegal takes center stage in Group I three days later.

After five days without any matches at the venue, Senegal will return to play potential dark horse Norway on June 22, before Ecuador faces Germany and Panama takes on England in the final group stage matches for Groups E and Group L respectively.

Dallas and Miami are also hosting their share of enticing match-ups and high-profile teams. Dallas will welcome national teams such as Argentina for two group-stage games, as well as Netherlands, Croatia and England, while Miami will host highly anticipated contests featuring Scotland vs. Brazil and Colombia vs. Portugal, which happens to be the match with the most expensive World Cup resale tickets found so far at $5.75 million.

Legends Return and a Star is Born

Three players are set to make their sixth appearance at a Men’s FIFA World Cup this summer — a record for the competition — including star names such as Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico). To manage such a feat is quite the achievement for any player, but for them all to still be competing close to their own historically high standards is all the more impressive.

Messi and French counterpart Kylian Mbappe require four and five goals respectively to break the all-time World Cup goalscoring record set by Germany’s Miroslav Klose of 16 goals.

Meanwhile, New Zealand defender Tim Payne has become an unlikely celebrity in the lead-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Argentinian influencer Valen Scarsini set out to promote “the least-known player” at the tournament and identified Payne due to his relatively low Instagram following. Since Scarsini’s intervention, Payne has more than tripled his Instagram following to 5.6 million followers (more than the estimated population of New Zealand at 5.33 million people) and he arrives at the tournament with a whole new legion of global fans.

Finally, the Iranian and Haitian national teams have both qualified against the alarming backdrop of war in their respective countries. Iran has appeared at every World Cup since 2014, but for Haiti, it is only their second appearance on international soccer’s most prestigious stage and first since the 1974 tournament in West Germany. The conflict in the Middle East and the geopolitical tensions between Iran and the United States have been well-documented, but Haiti has also been gripped by its own internal conflict since 2020.

Three Nations, Three Ceremonies

To mark the milestone of having three FIFA World Cup host nations, FIFA announced that there would be three separate Opening Ceremonies immediately preceding the first matches for the Canadian, Mexican and U.S. Men’s National Teams.

On June 11 in Mexico City before the first match between Mexico and South Africa, Colombian superstar Shakira will headline the Opening Ceremony with her official World Cup anthem “Dai Dai.” There will also be performances from Burna Boy, Manà, Alejandro Fernandez, Danny Ocean and Tyla.

A day later, Canada’s Opening Ceremony will be led by Michael Buble. Ahead of Canada vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Alanis Morissette and Aleksandar Gajic will perform the Canadian and Bosnian national anthems respectively, plus Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez, Nora Fatehi, Elyanna, Sanjoy, Vegedream and William Prince make up the rest of the performing lineup.

Also on June 12, the USMNT will play its opening match against Paraguay, and the Opening Ceremony will be headlined by Katy Perry. Dan + Shaw will perform the U.S. national anthem and Purahei Soul will sing Paraguay’s anthem, while Future, Anitta and Lisa, Rema & Tyler are also set to perform.

Political Tensions

It is not uncommon for controversial issues to dominate the headlines in the lead-up to FIFA World Cups. In fact, the last three editions have taken place against the backdrop of larger societal concerns: in 2014 there were street demonstrations in Rio against the government in Brazil; in 2018 there were protests due to Russia’s invasion of Crimea that had taken place four years earlier; and, finally, in Qatar in 2022 there were protests against human rights abuse allegations and concerns over the country’s stance on the LGBTQ+ community.

This time around, however, there are many factors that will be causing headaches for organizers, fans and the national teams themselves.

First, the size and scale of the event is generating major logistical and environmental concerns. A joint report by Loughborough University, University of Bristol and University of Manchester in England has concluded that this tournament is likely to be “the most polluting World Cup ever” due to the increased travel differences between matches and base camps and the emissions of traveling by airplanes.

Ticket prices have also been the source of consternation for fans who feel as if they have been priced out of the tournament. For the first time at a World Cup, FIFA has deployed variable pricing (where prices alter at each sales point based on previous demand) and allowed ticket resales through third-party platforms, which resulted in ticket inflation way above the initially projected price range of $80 to $1,100 and a subpoena by the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey into allegations that FIFA was “artificially inflating prices” and “misleading fans.”

U.S. President Donald Trump‘s continued immigration crackdown is also causing problems for national team staff and fans trying to enter the country. Four qualified nations are currently subject to a travel ban in the United States — Haiti, Iran, Senegal and Ivory Coast — meaning that citizens from those countries are barred from receiving the required visitor visas. The likes of Algeria, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Uruguay and Uzbekistan have also been subjected to partial travel bans and visa freezes, with fans struggling to support their teams and some players/staff facing long immigration queues on entry to the country. Somalian referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan was also turned away after his visa was blocked due to “suspected links to terror organizations.”

Forecasting Problems

Furthermore, extreme heat and weather conditions are likely to disrupt matches at the World Cup. At last year’s expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, six matches were delayed for up to two hours due to electrical storms, and obligatory water cooling breaks have been implemented for this year’s event to help players cope with the high temperatures.

Finally, accommodation providers including hotels have voiced their frustration over lower-than anticipated bookings ahead of the showpiece event. In a survey conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) for its 30,000-plus members in April, almost 80 percent of U.S. hoteliers in the 11 host cities said that their bookings had been tracking below initial forecasts, partly attributable to fans staying in spillover markets due to increased costs and FIFA canceling up to 70 percent of its reserved rooms in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle.