Messi, who will turn 39 during next summer\u2019s tournament, has yet to confirm whether he will appear in his sixth World Cup. Argentina have been drawn in Group J alongside Algeria, Austria and Jordan. The 2026 edition, to be held from June 11 to July 19 across Mexico, the United States and Canada, is expected to be Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s final opportunity to chase World Cup glory at the age of 40. Portugal find themselves in Group K with the winner of Play-Off Tournament 1 (DR Congo, Jamaica or New Caledonia), Uzbekistan and Colombia.<\/p>\n
If both Argentina and Portugal top their groups and win their last-32 and last-16 fixtures, a quarterfinal meeting between Messi and Ronaldo could await.<\/p>\n
The FIFA World Cup schedule was announced a day after the draw ceremony at Washington, D.C., where U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney – representing the three co-hosts of the expanded tournament – were present alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The schedule, along with the venues and kickoff times, is now official for all 42 playing nations, although the entire fixture will be finalised when the remaining six participants are determined through UEFA and inter-confederation playoffs being held in March.<\/p>\n
The top two teams from each group, along with the eight best third-place finishers, will progress to the round of 32.<\/p>\n
The finale is scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n
The World Cup tournament will be held across 16 cities in North America, including Toronto and Vancouver in Canada, as well as Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara in Mexico. In the United States, host cities include Atlanta, Boston (Foxborough), Dallas (Arlington), Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles (Inglewood), Miami (Miami Gardens), New York\/New Jersey (East Rutherford), Philadelphia, San Francisco (Santa Clara) and Seattle.<\/p>\n
Mexico will kick off the tournament on June 11 against South Africa at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City – a rematch of the 1-1 tie at the 2010 opener in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Argentina, who lost their 2022 Qatar World Cup opener to Saudi Arabia before going on to win the final over France on penalty kicks, will start their campaign against Algeria on June 17. They will then face Austria and Jordan in Dallas. France, winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022. start June 16 against Senegal at East Rutherford, New Jersey, or Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June 16.<\/p>\n
European champions Spain will play their first two Group H fixtures, against debutants Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, in the covered and air-conditioned Atlanta stadium. They will then head to Mexico to take on Uruguay in Guadalajara. England, 1966 champions, will open their bid against Croatia in the covered Dallas stadium on June 17, before shifting to the northeastern United States for their remaining Group L fixtures.<\/p>\n
Brazil, who won the last World Cup in America in 1994, will meet Morocco at the MetLife Stadium in their first Group C encounter on June 13.<\/p>\n
FIFA World Cup 2026 match group-stage schedule:GROUP A<\/p>\n
Mexico v South Africa June 11 at 1900 GMT in Mexico City<\/p>\n
South Korea v European Playoff D June 12 at 0200 GMT in Guadalajara<\/p>\n
European Playoff D v South Africa June 18 at 1600 GMT in Atlanta<\/p>\n
Mexico v South Korea June 19 at 0100 GMT in Guadalajara<\/p>\n
European Playoff D v Mexico June 25 at 0100 GMT in Mexico City<\/p>\n
South Africa v South Korea June 25 at 0100 GMT in Monterrey<\/p>\n
GROUP B<\/p>\n
Canada v European Playoff A June 12 at 1900 GMT in Toronto<\/p>\n
Qatar v Switzerland June 13 at 1900 GMT in San Francisco<\/p>\n
Switzerland v European Playoff A June 18 at 1900 GMT in Los Angeles<\/p>\n
Canada v Qatar June 18 at 2200 GMT in Vancouver<\/p>\n
Switzerland v Canada June 24 at 1900 GMT in Vancouver<\/p>\n
European Playoff A v Qatar June 24 at 1900 GMT in Seattle<\/p>\n
GROUP C<\/p>\n
Brazil v Morocco June 13 at 2200 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
Haiti v Scotland June 14 at 0100 GMT in Boston<\/p>\n
Scotland v Morocco June 19 at 2200 GMT in Boston<\/p>\n
Brazil v Haiti June 20 at 0100 GMT in Philadelphia<\/p>\n
Scotland v Brazil June 24 at 2200 GMT in Miami<\/p>\n
Morocco v Haiti June 24 at 2200 GMT in Atlanta<\/p>\n
GROUP D<\/p>\n
United States v Paraguay June 13 at 0100 in Los Angeles<\/p>\n
Australia v European Playoff C June 13 at 0400 GMT in Vancouver<\/p>\n
European Playoff C v Paraguay June 19 at 0400 GMT in San Francisco<\/p>\n
United States v Australia June 19 at 1900 GMT in Seattle<\/p>\n
European Playoff C v United States June 26 at 0200 GMT in Los Angeles<\/p>\n
Paraguay v Australia June 26 at 0200 GMT in San Francisco<\/p>\n
GROUP E<\/p>\n
Germany v Curacao June 14 at 1900 GMT in Houston<\/p>\n
Ivory Coast v Ecuador June 14 at 2300 GMT in Philadelphia<\/p>\n
Germany v Ivory Coast June 20 at 2000 GMT in Toronto<\/p>\n
Ecuador v Curacao June 21 at 0000 GMT in Kansas City<\/p>\n
Ecuador v Germany June 25 at 2000 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
Curacao v Ivory Coast June 25 at 2000 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
GROUP F<\/p>\n
Netherlands v Japan June 14 at 2000 GMT in Dallas<\/p>\n
European Playoff B v Tunisia June 15 0200 GMT in Monterrey<\/p>\n
Netherlands v European Playoff B June 20 at 1700 GMT in Houston<\/p>\n
Tunisia v Japan June 21 at 0400 GMT in Monterrey<\/p>\n
Japan v European Playoff B June 25 at 2300 GMT in Dallas<\/p>\n
Tunisia v Netherlands June 25 at 2300 GMT in Kansas City<\/p>\n
GROUP G<\/p>\n
Belgium v Egypt June 15 at 1900 GMT in Seattle<\/p>\n
Iran v New Zealand June 16 at 0100 GMT in Los Angeles<\/p>\n
Belgium v Iran June 21 at 1900 GMT in Los Angeles<\/p>\n
New Zealand v Egypt June 22 at 0100 GMT in Vancouver<\/p>\n
Egypt v Iran June 27 at 0300 GMT in Seattle<\/p>\n
New Zealand v Belgium June 27 at 0300 in Vancouver<\/p>\n
GROUP H<\/p>\n
Spain v Cape Verde June 15 at 1600 GMT in Atlanta<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay June 15 at 2200 GMT in Miami<\/p>\n
Spain v Saudi Arabia June 21 at 1600 GMT in Atlanta<\/p>\n
Uruguay v Cape Verde June 21 at 2200 GMT in Miami<\/p>\n
Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia June 27 at 0000 GMT in Houston<\/p>\n
Uruguay v Spain June 27 at 0000 GMT in Guadalajara<\/p>\n
GROUP I<\/p>\n
France v Senegal June 16 at 1900 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
FIFA Playoff 2 v Norway June 16 at 2200 GMT in Boston<\/p>\n
France v FIFA Playoff 2 June 22 at 0200 GMT in Philadelphia<\/p>\n
Norway v Senegal June 23 at 0000 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
Norway v France June 26 at 1900 GMT in Boston<\/p>\n
Senegal v FIFA Playoff 2 June 26 at 1900 GMT in Toronto<\/p>\n
GROUP J<\/p>\n
Argentina v Algeria June 17 at 0100 GMT in Kansas City<\/p>\n
Austria v Jordan June 17 at 0400 GMT in San Francisco<\/p>\n
Argentina v Austria June 22 at 1700 GMT in Dalllas<\/p>\n
Jordan v Algeria June 23 at 0300 GMT in San Francisco<\/p>\n
Algeria v Austria June 28 at 0200 GMT in Kansas City<\/p>\n
Jordan v Argentina June 28 at 0200 in Dallas<\/p>\n
GROUP K<\/p>\n
Portugal v FIFA Playoff 1 June 17 at 1700 GMT in Houston<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan v Colombia June 18 at 0200 GMT in Mexico City<\/p>\n
Portugal v Uzbekistan June 23 at 1700 GMT in Houston<\/p>\n
Colombia v FIFA Playoff 1 June 24 at 0200 GMT in Guadalajara<\/p>\n
Colombia v Portugal June 27 at 2330 GMT in Miami<\/p>\n
FIFA Playoff 1 v Uzbekistan June 27 at 2330 GMT in Atlanta<\/p>\n
GROUP L<\/p>\n
England v Croatia June 17 at 2000 GMT in Dallas<\/p>\n
Ghana v Panama June 17 at 2300 GMT in Toronto<\/p>\n
England v Ghana June 23 at 2000 GMT in Boston<\/p>\n
Panama v Croatia June 23 at 2300 GMT in Toronto<\/p>\n
Panama v England June 27 at 2100 GMT in New York, New Jersey<\/p>\n
Croatia v Ghana June 27 at 2100 GMT in Philadelphia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Messi, who will turn 39 during next summer\u2019s tournament, has yet to confirm whether he will appear in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9877,17558,19712,85,46,54038,17673,105,101640],"class_list":{"0":"post-171902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-lionel-messi","14":"tag-portugal","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-world-cup-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}