2026 World Cup Final Countdown

The biggest World Cup in history

For the first time, the tournament features 48 teams playing 104 matches across three host countries, the United States, Canada and Mexico, in 16 cities from Vancouver to Mexico City.

A final on the world's biggest stage

MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL's Giants and Jets, hosts the final in the New York area. The World Cup final is routinely watched by well over a billion people worldwide.

The dog who saved the World Cup

Four months before England hosted the 1966 tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen from a London exhibition. A week later a mongrel named Pickles, out for a walk, sniffed it out of a hedge wrapped in newspaper. Pickles became a national hero and got a year's supply of dog food; the thief got two years. Brazil, for the record, remains the only nation to have played in every World Cup.

Quick facts

• Final: July 19, 2026, at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
• First 48-team World Cup, 104 matches in all
• Hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico
• The first three-nation World Cup ever
• Brazil is the only nation to appear in every World Cup