World Cup 2026 Venues: All 16 Stadiums Across the United States, Mexico and Canada

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is staged across 16 stadiums in 16 cities, the largest venue footprint of any World Cup in history. Eleven of the venues are in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. The tournament's final is at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 19 July 2026, with the opening match at Estadio Banorte (Azteca) in Mexico City on 11 June 2026.

The 16-venue selection was confirmed by FIFA in June 2022, narrowed from a candidate list of 17 host cities that the joint US-Mexico-Canada bid had originally proposed. Every stadium in the final selection meets FIFA's pitch dimensions, capacity, broadcast and accessibility requirements. This guide gives a high-level view of all 16 venues, with deeper detail on each stadium available on the linked individual pages.

The 16 venues at a glance

FIFA grouped the 16 venues by region during the bid evaluation. The geography breaks down as follows:

• East coast (United States): MetLife Stadium (New York/New Jersey), Gillette Stadium (Boston/Foxborough), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami/Miami Gardens), Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta).
• Central United States: AT&T Stadium (Dallas/Arlington), NRG Stadium (Houston), Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City).
• West coast (United States): SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles/Inglewood), Levi's Stadium (San Francisco Bay Area/Santa Clara), Lumen Field (Seattle).
• Canada: BMO Field (Toronto), BC Place Stadium (Vancouver).
• Mexico: Estadio Banorte (Azteca) (Mexico City), Estadio AKRON (Guadalajara/Zapopan), Estadio BBVA Bancomer (Monterrey/Guadalupe).

The total seating capacity across all 16 venues is over a million. The smallest venue is BMO Field in Toronto at 30,000 (expanded for the tournament from its standard 28,000 MLS configuration). The largest is Estadio Banorte (Azteca) in Mexico City at 87,523, the same stadium that hosted both the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals.

How the venues were selected

The 17 candidate cities in the original 2018 bid were Atlanta, Boston (Foxborough), Cincinnati, Dallas (Arlington), Denver, Edmonton, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles (Pasadena/Inglewood), Mexico City, Miami (Miami Gardens), Monterrey, Nashville, New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford), Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco (Santa Clara), Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington/Baltimore. Some of those cities had two stadium options listed.

FIFA's evaluation criteria during 2021-2022 weighed pitch dimensions, capacity, broadcast infrastructure, fan accommodation, transit, and the financial terms each city was prepared to offer. The June 2022 announcement confirmed 16 cities. Cities that did not make the final cut included Cincinnati, Denver, Edmonton, Nashville, Orlando and Washington/Baltimore, although Edmonton's BMO Field originally figured in the bid before Canada's host-city selection settled on Toronto and Vancouver alone.

Every chosen stadium is the home of an established American football, Canadian football or Mexican professional football side. Several stadiums underwent reconfigurations specifically for the World Cup: MetLife Stadium, SoFi Stadium and Lumen Field all switched from artificial turf to natural-grass surfaces for the tournament, after FIFA mandated grass for every fixture. BMO Field in Toronto added temporary seating to bring its capacity above the FIFA minimum.

The marquee fixtures by venue

Several venues take outsized roles in the tournament's marquee fixtures:

• Final, 19 July 2026: MetLife Stadium, capacity 82,500, the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets. The third largest venue in the tournament.
• Opening match, 11 June 2026: Estadio Banorte (Azteca), the only stadium to host three World Cup opening fixtures (1970, 1986, 2026) and three World Cup final tournaments overall.
• Semi-finals: Two US venues, with AT&T Stadium in Dallas (capacity 80,000) and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (capacity 75,000) staging the last-four matches.
• Quarter-finals: Spread across the United States with each venue staging one knockout-stage fixture.
• Round of 32: Venues across all three host countries take a share of the new round, including the only Canadian knockout fixture.

The full match-by-venue schedule is available on our matches page, with each venue page also listing its assigned fixtures.

Stadium types: NFL bowls, soccer-specific and FIFA-mandated changes

The tournament's venues span a wide range of stadium types. The majority are American football stadiums home to NFL franchises, including the largest five (AT&T Stadium, MetLife Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and NRG Stadium). NFL bowls offer enormous capacity but require pitch reconfigurations: temporary playing surfaces are extended to FIFA's 105m by 68m minimum, and seating is adjusted to follow the elongated rectangle.

Three venues are soccer-specific: BMO Field in Toronto (Toronto FC's home), Lumen Field in Seattle (Seattle Sounders' main home, also shared with the NFL Seahawks) and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami (Inter Miami CF's home, shared with the NFL Dolphins). The Mexican venues are all primarily soccer stadiums: Estadio Banorte (Azteca) is home to Club America, Estadio AKRON to Chivas, and Estadio BBVA Bancomer to Monterrey.

FIFA's mandate that every match must be played on natural grass triggered surface conversions at multiple venues. SoFi Stadium, MetLife Stadium, Lumen Field and Levi's Stadium all installed temporary grass over their usual artificial-turf playing surfaces. Conversion takes weeks, requires growing the turf in advance, and adds materially to the total tournament infrastructure cost.

Climate and time zones

The 16 venues span four time zones and several distinct climate regions. June and July weather across the host countries varies dramatically:

• Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Vancouver): The mildest summer climate in the tournament, with afternoon highs typically in the 22-27 degrees Celsius range and low humidity.
• West Coast (LA, San Francisco Bay Area): Coastal Mediterranean climate, dry and mild near the ocean. SoFi Stadium has a partially open roof.
• Central US and Canada (Kansas City, Toronto, Atlanta): Hot and humid, with afternoon thunderstorms common.
• Texas and Florida (Dallas, Houston, Miami): Extreme heat and humidity, with daytime highs regularly above 35 degrees Celsius. AT&T Stadium and NRG Stadium are climate-controlled.
• Northeast (New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston): Warm and humid summer, occasional thunderstorms.
• Mexico City and Guadalajara: High altitude (Mexico City over 2,200 metres) gives a milder climate than the latitude would suggest, though afternoon rain is frequent during the rainy season.
• Monterrey: Hot and arid, similar to southern Texas weather patterns.

FIFA scheduled kick-off times to balance broadcast windows with player welfare, with most matches in the most humid venues kicking off in the local evening to avoid peak afternoon heat.

Travel between venues

The 16-venue layout means knockout-stage progression can require significant travel. The shortest fixture-to-fixture flight is between Boston and New York/New Jersey (under 60 minutes flight time, plus airport transfer). The longest cross-country flight is Seattle to Miami at over five hours. FIFA published the bracket draw structure with travel minimisation in mind: deep-tournament progression is designed to keep teams within reasonable geographical clusters where possible.

Mexico's three venues are all reachable from the United States in under three flight hours, with Monterrey (closer to Texas than to Mexico City) the most easily accessible from the central US cluster. The two Canadian venues add modest travel: Toronto is a short flight from the US east coast, and Vancouver is closer to Seattle than to anywhere else.

Pitch dimensions and FIFA standards

FIFA standardised pitch dimensions across every venue at 105 metres by 68 metres, the maximum dimensions allowed under the Laws of the Game. Several stadiums had to expand their playing surfaces to meet this minimum, including some MLS-specific venues that operate slightly smaller pitches in regular-season use.

Every venue's playing surface is natural grass, either permanent or temporary. The minimum acceptable grass coverage was specified by FIFA's pitch advisory team during the bid evaluation, with each venue required to demonstrate the feasibility of its surface conversion.

Related guides

• World Cup 2026 hub, with the full tournament guide.
• All 16 World Cup 2026 host cities, with travel and climate detail per city.
• How the 2026 World Cup format works: groups, knockouts and the new round of 32.
• Full fixture schedule, by venue and by date.
• How to watch the 2026 World Cup.