The Qatar World Cup was the most controversial tournament in FIFA’s history and ended with Argentina being crowned champions.
The 2022 World Cup started in late-November – due to the hot weather in the Gulf nation during the summer months – and ended with the trophy in Lionel Messi’s hands on December 18.
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The tournament forced leagues around world to reshape their seasons and caused plenty of headaches.
While the football was brilliant, countries around globe will be eager to return to some sort of normality moving forward.
The World Cup is held every four years, being staged on a different continent each time.
After Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, the famous competition headed to the Persian Gulf and will be on the move again for the next edition with a host of major changes coming up once more.
Where will the next World Cup be held?
Like the Qatar tournament, the 2026 World Cup will also break new ground for FIFA.
That’s because it will be held across three countries – United States, Canada and Mexico.
The trio bid was voted ahead of the proposal from Morocco.
The 2002 tournament was held in South Korea and Japan but the World Cup has never had three host nations before – all of whom will automatically qualify.
There will be 16 host cities, 11 from the USA, two in Canada and three in Mexico.
The stadiums being used include the 87,523-capacity Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, New York’s MetLife Stadium and Vancouver’s BC Place.
Several NFL venues will be used to provide huge crowds with 12 of the 16 stadia having capacities over 64,000.
How many teams will be at the next World Cup?
The 2026 World Cup will also be different as it will be the first to include 48 teams, up from 32.
The group format hasn’t been confirmed yet as FIFA weigh up their options.
But it is understood they are currently favouring the new format of 12 groups of four.
That would see the eight best third-placed teams joining the top two in the knockout rounds.
It would also add up to a total of 104 matches, up from 64 in Qatar.
When will the next World Cup be held?
The dates for the 2026 World Cup have not been confirmed yet either.
It is understood that the expanded tournament will run over 39 days.
And it’s currently expected to get underway on Thursday, June 11, 2026 and run until the final on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
FIFA is also eager to keep the tournament’s ‘footprint’ to 57 days meaning there would be 16 days of preparation and then 39 days of competition.
That would mean an earlier finish to the European domestic season so it remains to be seen how FIFA will slot everything in.
