The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be an event of firsts. There will be 104 games (40 more games than any FIFA tournament), 48 teams (16 more teams than the previous tournament), all to be completed in a record 39 days, FIFA announced Sunday.
“I am really excited to see the first US game being in L.A. and was a little disappointed for the final being in New York but will be attending matches nonetheless,” said Luc Insley, a sophomore and USC men’s club soccer player.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the matches and locations alongside stars Kevin Hart, Kim Kardashian, Drake and Brazilian former soccer player Cafu, accompanied with visual montages of each city presented.
The tournament will kick off in Mexico City at Estadio Azteca on June 11 and conclude near New York at the MetLife Stadium on July 19.
There will be 16 host cities across three host nations: Mexico, Canada and the United States. 14 of those games will be in Mexico, 13 games will be in Canada, and the remaining 77 games will be in the U.S. All matches from the quarter-finals on will be hosted in the U.S.
“I think that it’s really cool because it’s awesome when we get a culture together,” said freshman Ava Miranda. “We studied abroad in Spain and the football — everyone is just so into it over there so it’s cool to have those fans come here. That’s like a big deal. I think that’s cool.”
The U.S. men’s national team will kick off their journey in L.A. at SoFi Stadium on June 12, with Southern California being their home base for the tournament. SoFi Stadium will host seven other matches during the 2026 World Cup.
“When you think about Los Angeles, it’s an iconic soccer city which has already hosted three World Cup Finals,” USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter said during the televised announcement. “It’s going to be an amazing venue for us.”
Freshman Joan Song will be attending school in LA during the tournament and is excited to experience a similar feeling of community as USC football games.
“I’m from California originally, but yes, I’m honored to be where the World Cup is being hosted at,” Song said. “It’s definitely, definitely going to bring L.A. people together and really get that vibe just like the USC football games.”
Sophomore Sean Stassi hopes that L.A. will benefit in other ways in addition to community-building.
“[It’s] pretty exciting,” Stassi said. “Hopefully we’ll get some good infrastructure out of it. They’ll build some public transport and help with that.”