The 2026 FIFA World Cup just started with Mexico City hosting the opening ceremony on June 11, 2026. This World Cup is historic for a simple reason: it is the first time ever that three countries are sharing hosting duties. The United States, Canada, and Mexico are working together to stage 104 matches featuring 48 teams—the biggest tournament in World Cup history.

Mexico kicked things off, which matters. The country hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, and its main stadium, the Estadio Azteca, is one of the most famous football venues in the world. Starting in Mexico City also symbolizes that Latin America remains central to World Cup culture before the tournament moves northward.

The draw, where teams learn which groups they're in, happened in Washington, D.C., on December 5, 2025. U.S. President Donald Trump attended, signaling that his administration sees the World Cup as an opportunity to raise America's international profile. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also attended, as his office confirmed.

Why This Tournament Matters for Canada

For Canada, this is a major milestone. The 2026 World Cup is the first time Men's World Cup matches will be played in Canada. The country will host 13 of the 104 total matches. Toronto gets the biggest share, with six matches including Canada's opening game.

This matters more than you might think. When a country hosts World Cup matches, it builds stadiums and facilities, attracts sponsorship money, and gets fans excited about the sport. That excitement helps the country's national team grow stronger. Canada's men's team qualified for the 2022 World Cup for the first time in 36 years, which gave the team momentum. Playing matches at home in 2026 will boost that momentum even further.

The tournament has also grown in size. FIFA expanded the field from 32 teams to 48 teams. That means 16 more countries get to play. With more teams come more matches—104 instead of the 64 that tournaments used to have. That is 63 percent more football. More matches mean more broadcast hours to sell and more sponsorship deals for FIFA. However, some people worry that letting weaker teams into the tournament lowers the overall quality of play. That debate is still ongoing.

Running Three Countries at Once

Having one country host the World Cup is complicated. Having three countries do it together is even more complicated. Each country has its own borders, its own security forces, and its own government. Fans, players, and media all need visas to cross borders. Stadium security has to be coordinated across three nations. This had never been attempted at this scale before.

Mexico is also dealing with real security challenges in parts of the country. Large events like the World Cup demand that the government prove it can keep people safe, both inside stadiums and in the streets and fan zones around them. Mexican football fans are known for their passion, and the opening has brought protests. Some people in Mexico are upset that the government is spending over $500 million on the World Cup when other public needs aren't being met.

For the United States, hosting World Cup matches is also practice. Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028. The skills and systems being used to run this World Cup—managing venues, coordinating security with federal agencies, handling international media—will all be useful for the Olympics.

The 2026 World Cup will run through the summer, with the final match scheduled to be played in the United States. This experiment—hosting one tournament across three countries—will now show whether a spread-out format can still deliver the unified experience that makes the World Cup special.