From June 11 to July 19, 2026, the heart of world soccer beats right here in North America: for the first time in the tournament's history, three nations share hosting duties for the FIFA World Cup. Canada, the United States and Mexico are turning the entire continent into one giant soccer stage. With 48 teams, 104 matches and 39 tournament days, the 2026 World Cup will be the biggest and longest World Cup of all time – a mammoth event that sets new standards and ushers the game into a new era.
The host cities stretch across half a continent – from Vancouver in the north-west all the way down to Mexico City in the south. Canada is represented by Toronto and Vancouver, the United States contributes eleven cities including New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City and San Francisco, while Mexico brings in the metropolises of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The legendary Estadio Azteca in Mexico City has the honour of staging the opening match, while the final will be played on July 19, 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, just outside New York. Nearly 4,000 kilometres separate the northernmost and southernmost venues – a logistical challenge the tournament has never faced before.
With the expansion to 48 nations, FIFA has rolled out an entirely new tournament format. The teams are split into twelve groups of four and play a total of 72 matches in the group stage. Alongside the group winners and runners-up, the eight best third-placed sides also advance to the knockout phase. This creates, for the first time, a Round of 32 featuring 32 teams – one more knockout round than in previous tournaments. The path to the trophy is now longer than ever: the eventual champion will have to win eight matches rather than the traditional seven. For fans, that means even more drama, more tension and significantly more live soccer than ever before.
Jesse Marsch's Canadian men's national team face Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2022 hosts Qatar, and Switzerland in Group B – with the enormous advantage that all three group games are played on home soil. The squad has set up its tournament headquarters in Vancouver, training at the National Soccer Development Centre at the University of British Columbia and staying at The Westin Bayshore on the Coal Harbour waterfront. The group fixtures take Canada from coast to coast: the campaign opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina at BMO Field in Toronto on June 12 (the country's first-ever men's World Cup match on Canadian soil), before two matches in Vancouver – against Qatar on June 18 and a decisive final group game against Switzerland on June 24. Particularly noteworthy: this is Canada's third World Cup appearance, after Mexico '86 and Qatar '22, but the very first on home turf. American head coach Marsch, who guided Les Rouges to a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Copa América (the country's best-ever showing at a major tournament), signed a four-year extension just weeks before kick-off that ties him to the program through the 2030 World Cup. Captain Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich, alongside the prolific Jonathan David and midfield anchor Stephen Eustáquio, leads what many consider the strongest generation of Canadian men's players the country has ever produced.
The tournament's geographic spread across four time zones might sound daunting on paper, but for fans across Canada it actually plays out as one of the most accessible World Cups ever staged. With every match unfolding on this continent, the time difference between Canadian viewers and the host venues is, at most, a few hours – not the brutal six-to-nine-hour gap European supporters have to navigate. For fans in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, eastern host cities and Mexico City line up with familiar evening viewing, while Pacific Coast matches – including Canada's last two group games in Vancouver – run a little later. For viewers on the West Coast, the entire schedule shifts forward and slots even more comfortably into the day. Never before has a World Cup served up such a generous spread of kick-off times for Canadian audiences from St. John's to Victoria.
The variety of kick-off times still calls for a bit of planning depending on where in the country you are. For viewers on Eastern Time (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax with a one-hour offset), East Coast US and Mexico City matches generally fall between mid-afternoon and prime-time evening, while West Coast and Vancouver fixtures land in the late evening, occasionally stretching just past midnight. For fans on Pacific Time (Vancouver, Victoria) and Mountain Time (Calgary, Edmonton), the entire schedule is pulled earlier in the day, with West Coast matches landing in the late afternoon to early evening and Eastern fixtures during lunch or right after work. In Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland, viewers get an extra hour or 90 minutes on top of Eastern Time – which puts late-night Vancouver games comfortably out of reach unless the radio's on. In short: wherever you tune in from, this World Cup is built around the North American clock.
It's precisely this spread of kick-off times that makes the 2026 World Cup a tournament built for radio listeners. With matches landing across the working day and into the evening – depending on where in Canada you're tuning in from – parking yourself in front of a television for 90 minutes isn't always realistic. A live radio stream certainly is. Audio coverage slips effortlessly into daily life: over breakfast for an early Mexico City fixture, on the commute home for a prime-time match, in the truck on the way up to the cottage, or on a lunchtime walk. While many TV broadcasts are tied to fixed schedules and video streaming services demand a rock-solid internet connection, radio comes into its own with its flexibility, modest data usage and the emotional power of great commentary voices – with all the relevant Canadian and international streams bundled into one place.
The 2026 World Cup is about much more than just soccer – it's a meeting of three cultures, with Canada front and centre as a co-host. The three official mascots reflect the character of the host nations: Maple the Canadian moose, Zayu the Mexican jaguar, and Clutch the American bald eagle. For the first time, the final will also feature a halftime show – inspired by the Super Bowl and headlined by Coldplay. Weather conditions vary dramatically across the continent: while Vancouver and Toronto offer mild Canadian summer temperatures ideally suited to soccer, players and fans in Dallas, Houston and Monterrey will have to brace themselves for heat well above 35°C. High humidity in Miami and Mexico City's altitude of more than 2,200 metres above sea level add further sporting challenges on top.
Whether it's the opening ceremony at the Estadio Azteca, Les Rouges' historic home group-stage matches or the grand final in New York: with ca.radio.net, you can follow the entire 2026 FIFA World Cup by audio – flexibly, and in top quality. Choose between full match commentary, score updates and behind-the-scenes shows built around the World Cup, and experience the biggest sporting event of the year entirely on your own schedule – whether the match kicks off at 7pm in Toronto or noon in Vancouver.
Listen to the matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup live via the radio web stream on ca.radio.net and cheer your team on along the road to the most coveted trophy in the world. Whether you're on the go with your smartphone, in the car or at home – you'll find match results and live radio broadcasts of selected fixtures all in one place. Live and free!
Countless radio stations around the world run reports, analysis and live commentary around the clock throughout the tournament. On our 2026 FIFA World Cup overview page, we bundle these streams together – so you can quickly find the right station in your language and won't miss a match, no matter what time zone you're in.
South Africa
Czech Republic
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Paraguay
Switzerland
Morocco
Scotland
Turkey
Curaçao
Japan
Ecuador
Tunisia
Cape Verde
Egypt
Uruguay
New Zealand
Senegal
Norway
Algeria
Jordan
DR Congo
Croatia
Panama
Colombia
Canada - english