Ultimate Guide to the FIFA World Cup: Format, history, teams

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There’s less than a month to go until the biggest FIFA World Cup ever kicks off.

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With Canada set to play host to more than a dozen games, there no doubt will be some questions that the average Joe or Jane have when it comes to the “Beautiful Game.”

Where and when are the games? How does it all work? Who’s playing and how much are tickets? How do I watch?

Well, we’ve got all your answers right here.

What is the FIFA World Cup?

Plain and simple: It’s the biggest international tournament for the biggest sport in the world.

The first World Cup took place in 1930 and has been held every four years since then, with the only exceptions being 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.

FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, organizes the tournament and selects a host nation, with Canada, Mexico and the United States beating out Morocco in the final vote back in 2018.

How does this whole tournament work?

The 48 teams have been broken down into 12 groups of four, with each team playing the other nations in their group once. Teams earn three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss.

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The top two teams automatically advance to the knockout phase while the top eight third-place teams also move on.

If any two teams are equal on points after group-stage play ends, the first tiebreaker is goal differential, followed by total goals, head-to-head record, Fair Play points (fewer cards received) and finally the drawing of lots.

The teams that advance are then placed in pre-arranged spots on a 32-team bracket which ensures nations from the same groups will not meet again until the final.

The knockout phase is a single-elimination tournament with teams with matches that end in a draw after 90 minutes (plus injury time) then playing two additional 15-minute halves of extra time. If the score remains tied, the teams then go to penalty kicks, with each side selecting five players each to face the opposing goal from the spot.

If it’s still tied after the first five rounds of penalty takers, it then becomes sudden-death until a winner is decided.

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The playoffs continue until two teams ultimately face off in final, one of the biggest and most-watched events in the world.

Where are the games?

The 2026 tournament will be the first to be co-hosted by three countries and just the second with more than a single host (Japan and South Korea shared the duties in 2022).

Canada will host 13 total games, with six taking place in Toronto at BMO Field (renamed Toronto Stadium for the World Cup) and seven being played at Vancouver’s BC Place.

Three Mexican cities (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey) will host a total of 13 games while the United States has the lions’ share of matches.

Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay area and Seattle all earned the rights to hold games, beating out several other bidders.

When are the games?

The first match will take place between Mexico and South Africa at Estadio Azetca in Mexico City on Thursday, June 11.

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From then on, it’ll be 34-day marathon of soccer. Expanding the tournament to 48 teams also means more game than ever, with 104 in total.

During the group stage, there typically will be four games played per day, with kickoff times ranging all the way from noon to midnight in the eastern time zone.

It will all culminate with the winning nation hoisting the golden trophy after the final at New York New Jersey Stadium – also known as MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets – on Sunday, July 19.

Which teams are playing?

As noted, this 48-team tournament is the biggest in World Cup history.

There will be 16 countries from Europe (UEFA), six from South America (CONMEBOL), nine from the Asian confederation (AFC), 10 from Africa (CAF), one from Oceania (OFC) and six representing CONCACAF, which encompasses North and Central America as well as the Caribbean.

Heading into the2026 edition, 80 different countries have competed in a World Cup while four more (Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan) will be making their debuts this summer.

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Brazil, which holds the record for most World Cup championships with five, also is the only country to have played in all 22 editions of the tournament.

How much are tickets?

One of the biggest sources of fan frustration over this World Cup has been the cost of tickets to attend games.

While in the past tickets have been priced at fairly reasonable rates with the goal of filling stadiums and giving the average fan a chance at watching their country compete.

However, for the 2026 edition, so-called “dynamic pricing” has been introduced and the cost of tickets has skyrocketed.

For Canada’s opener, the cheapest tickets to attend the game at BMO Field were listed for more than $1,300.

As a result, many games have thousands of tickets available and FIFA hasn’t budged on lowering ticket prices. The end result could end up being half-empty stadiums with the world watching, a potentially embarrassing sight for FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

How can I watch at home?

Here in Canada, Bell Media holds the exclusive rights for the tournament in both English and French.

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On traditional television, all 104 matches will be available on either CTV, TSN, CTV2 or TSN2.

Matches also will be live-streamed on TSN+ as well as CTV’s digital platforms.

A full broadcast schedule can be found on TSN’s website.

And, for those who are interested in an alternate broadcast or commentary, TV subscribers should also be able to watch games on FOX.

Who are the star players?

We’ll have more on this closer to the start of the tournament, when squads are officially announced and domestic leagues have wrapped up, but there will be a ton of star power hitting the pitch.

Lionel Messi – arguably the sport’s GOAT – will look to help Argentina defend its World Cup title.

Kylian Mbappe already has scored 12 goals in two World Cup tournaments and very well could break Miroslav Klose’s all-time record total of 16 this summer.

Spain’s Lamine Yamal is just 18 years old, but already has become one of the world’s biggest stars and key figure at Barcelona.

And, at 41 years old, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo will take his last run at World Cup glory as well.

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Who’s going to win it all?

On the pitch, anything can happen. But there obviously are some favourites with Spain, France and England the current top three nations in terms of odds, according to sports betting site Covers.

Of course, having the best players and the best odds don’t always add up to World Cup glory.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Argentina may have won it all, but it started off the tournament by losing to Saudi Arabia.

Massively talented countries like Germany and Belgium – which was ranked second in the world coming into the tournament – didn’t even make it out of the group stage.

Morocco aptly played the role of darkhorse, making it all the way to the semifinal before losing to France.

Croatia, a country with an estimated population of less than 4 million, has finished second and third in the past two tournaments.

It’s a good lesson that once that first ball is kicked on June 11, nothing should be taken granted.

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