The 2026 FIFA World Cup is officially one year away.
With nine matches at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, the International Broadcast Center in downtown Dallas and the potential for several team base camps in the region, North Texas is set to be one of the epicenters of the world’s biggest sporting event.
Below, you’ll find a roundup of key dates throughout the next year. That includes key matches for the USMNT and Mexico as they gear up to host, the ongoing WC qualification tournaments and plenty of important happenings off the pitch.
Here are notable dates for the World Cup and North Texas:
CONCACAF Gold Cup: June 14-July 6
- June 14, 2025 - Opener is Mexico vs. Dominican Republic
- June 15, 2025 - USMNT opener is United States vs. Trinidad and Tobago
- June 18, 2025 - Costa Rica vs. Dominican Republic at AT&T Stadium
- June 18, 2025 - Mexico vs. Suriname at AT&T Stadium
- June 22, 2025 - United States vs. Haiti at AT&T Stadium
- June 22, 2025 - Dominican Republic vs. Suriname at AT&T Stadium
- July 6, 2025 - Final at NRG Stadium in Houston
Qualifying tournaments
Teams from across the world will be qualifying for the World Cup as late as March 2026, but a clearer picture of the field will emerge in the months before. Thirteen teams have already qualified as of June 10: The three hosts (Canada, Mexico and the United States) are ed by Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Ecuador.
Each of FIFA’s member confederations was assigned a number of slots where qualification can be won directly through continental qualifying tournaments. A further six teams will also earn a spot in the FIFA Play-Off Tournament from their confederation’s tournament. That intercontinental playoff, played in March 2026, will determine the final two spots in the World Cup.
Here is a breakdown of the key dates across FIFA’s six confederations:
AFC (Asia) - Teams from Asia will complete qualification on Nov. 18, 2025 with eight direct slots and one playoff spot. Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea and Australia have already qualified.
CAF (Africa) - African squads will complete qualification in November 2025 with nine direct slots and one playoff spot.
CONCACAF (North and Central America + the Caribbean) - CONCACAF already has three guaranteed spots for hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States. Three more spots from the qualification tournament are up for grabs and two more teams will go to the Play-Off.
CONMEBOL (South America) - South American qualification ends in September 2025 with six direct slots and one playoff spot. Defending champions Argentina have already qualified, along with Brazil and Ecuador.
OFC (Oceania) - The only confederation to have already completed qualification, New Zealand earned its one direct slot and New Caledonia is headed to the intercontinental playoff.
UEFA (Europe) - With many of the biggest names in the sport in play, UEFA will complete qualification in March 2026 and send 16 nations directly to the World Cup.
World Cup draw
The draw is set to take place in December 2025. Six teams (Four from the UEFA playoff and two from the inter-confederation playoff) will not yet be qualified. The location and exact date are to be confirmed.
Ticket sales dates
Arlington’s AT&T Stadium is set to host nine World Cup matches, the most of any venue. While some secondary market sites already have tickets for sale, FIFA has not officially begun selling single-match tickets for any World Cup venue.
Fans may already their interest in tickets and receive further information from FIFA. The organization has not said when single-match tickets will become available.
Fans can already buy high-end hospitality tickets in a variety of packages with the cheapest option a four-match package spread across several U.S. venues starting at $5,300 per person. There is also a “Venue” package available that includes all nine matches at AT&T Stadium (Dallas Stadium on FIFA’s website) which starts at $23,700.
World Cup base camp announcements
Teams will have the option to select a base camp where they will be based during the tournament’s group stage. There are currently 62 sites in the running to host teams. Six of them are located in North Texas with the training sites as follow:
- Dallas: training site at DBU
- Dallas: Toyota Stadium (FC Dallas)
- Dallas: University of Dallas
- Denton: University of North Texas
- Fort Worth: TCU
- Mansfield: Mansfield Multipurpose Stadium
Teams playing in the World Cup will submit their selections for preferred base camp sites after the draw in December. At that point, it’s possible there will be a number of teams based out of D-FW during the group stage.
Notable World Cup games
- June 11, 2026 - World Cup opener is Mexico vs. TBD at Estadio Azteca
- June 12, 2026 - USMNT opener in Los Angeles
- June 14, 2026 - Group stage opener at AT&T Stadium
- June 14, 2026 - Group stage opener at NRG Stadium in Houston
- June 17, 2026 - Group stage game at AT&T Stadium
- June 17, 2026 - Group stage game at NRG Stadium
- June 18, 2026 - Mexico group stage game 2 in Guadalajara
- June 19, 2026 - USMNT group stage game 2 in Seattle
- June 20, 2026 - Group stage game at NRG Stadium
- June 22, 2026 - Group stage game at AT&T Stadium
- June 23, 2026 - Group stage game at NRG Stadium
- June 24, 2026 - Mexico group stage game 3 in Mexico City
- June 25, 2026 - Group stage game at AT&T Stadium
- June 25, 2026 - USMNT group stage game 3 in Seattle
- June 26, 2026 - Group stage game at NRG Stadium
- June 27, 2026 - Group stage game at AT&T Stadium
- June 29, 2026 - Round of 32 game at NRG Stadium
- June 30, 2026 - Round of 32 game at AT&T Stadium
- July 3, 2026 - Round of 32 game at AT&T Stadium
- July 4, 2026 - Round of 16 game at NRG Stadium
- July 6, 2026 - Round of 16 game at AT&T Stadium
- July 14, 2026 - Semifinal game at AT&T Stadium
- July 19, 2026 - Final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
The full tournament schedule can be found here.
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