How many games will there be at the 2026 World Cup?

There are fewer than 100 days until the World Cup begins on 11 June, with excitement for the tournament beginning to swell.

A beefed-up format welcomes 48 teams to Canada, the USA, and Mexico, making the 2026 tournament the biggest single-sport event in history.

As such, there will be even more games than previous tournaments, so get ready for a feast of international football.

How many matches at 2026 FIFA World Cup?

Because of the 16-team increase from the 32-team tournaments we have seen since 1998, there will be four more groups, with England occupying Group L, the last group to play.

Each group consists of six games, as all four teams play each other once, meaning an additional 24 games have been added to the schedule across the group stage.

That brings the group stage total to 72 matches, beginning with Mexico vs South Africa and culminating in simultaneous group J clashes of Algeria versus Austria and Jordan versus Argentina.

The eight best third-placed finishers across the 12 groups will qualify for the World Cup’s first ever round of 32, alongside every group winner and runner-up.

That means an additional 16 matches in the knockout stage, before returning to the traditional round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final.

That would bring the total number of matches to 103. But don’t forget football’s most pointless match, the third-placed play-off, when the two losing semi-finalists face off for pride.

Overall, 104 matches will be played at the 2026 World Cup, an extraordinary 62% increase on the 64 games played in 2022.

The decision to expand the tournament so drastically has brought controversy, with some fans arguing that it diminishes the overall level of the tournament.

However, the four debuting nations of Jordan, Uzbekistan, Cape Verde, and Curacao will be delighted with FIFA’s decision and will all be aiming to spring a surprise to make it to the knockout stages.

It’s fair to say it would be unlikely for any to play in the tournament’s 104th and final game.