Where will 2026 World Cup be held and how many teams will be there?

The 2022 Qatar World Cup turned out to be a spectacular success on every parameter, culminating in one of the greatest ever finals in the history of the tournament.

After a lot of apprehension over the staging of a mega tournament like the World Cup in small nation like Qatar, the tournament eventually went off smoothly with fans and teams enjoying state-of-the-art facilities, great hospitality and a slice of Arab culture.

Such was the positive response from a thrilling group stage, Morocco's incredible run and overall quality of football, Fifa president Gianni Infantino called it the "best World Cup ever".

While celebrations in Argentina will go on for days after Lionel Messi's inspiring effort in the final, the focus has already started to shift to the next tournament.

Where will the 2026 Fifa World Cup be held?

The 2022 World Cup was celebrated for its compact size - staged at eight stadiums in and around the Qatari capital of Doha and all around within an hours' drive from each other. However, the 2026 World Cup is set to stand out for its size, number of teams and travel involved.

The next World Cup will be held across three host nations - the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is the first time the finals has been split across three countries.

Matches will be held in 16 host cities - 11 in the US, three in Mexico and two in Canada.

All of the US games will be held in venues used by NFL teams, with stadiums such as the $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and the New York Giants' 82,500-seater MetLife Stadium.

How many teams will participate in the 2026 World Cup?

Everything about this World Cup is going to be massive. Fifa has announced that the American World Cup will have 48 teams, up from 32 in Qatar.

The 16-team increase marks the biggest expansion in the World Cup's evolution.

The biggest beneficiaries of the expansion will be Africa and Asia. Under the new format, Africa will receive nine qualifying slots for the finals, compared to five previously, while Asia will nearly double to eight from 4.5 spots.

How many matches will played and what is the format?

After the success of the four-team group format in Qatar, Fifa are planning to retain that formula. That would mean 12 groups of four, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout rounds along with the eight best third-place finishers.

That format would also mean a total of 104 matches, a huge jump from 64 in Qatar.

Full list of World Cup 2026 venues and their capacity

USA

SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles. Capacity 70,000

MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. Capacity 82,500

AT&T Stadium, Dallas. Capacity 80,000

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami. Capacity 65,000

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City. Capacity 76,000

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta. Capacity 71,000

Gillette Stadium, Boston. Capacity 65,000

NRG Stadium, Houston. Capacity 72,000

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia. Capacity 67,000

Levi's Stadium, San Francisco Bay Area. Capacity 68,000

Lumen Field, Seattle. Capacity 72,000

MEXICO

Azteca Stadium, Mexico City. Capacity 87,000

Estadio Akron, Guadalajara. Capacity 46,000

Estadio BBVA, Monterrey. Capacity 51,000

CANADA

BMO Field, Toronto. Capacity 30,000

BC Place, Vancouver. Capacity 54,000

What will travel be like?

Travel between venues is likely to be the biggest headache for organisers, teams and fans. The distance between some of the venues within USA and also to stadiums in Canada and Mexico is around 5,000km. Fifa boss Infantino had said the governing body was looking at basing teams in regional "clusters" to minimise travel.

Even with certain systems in place, the 2026 World Cup is likely to be a huge challenge not only for the teams and travelling fans, but also for the viewing public as American time zone is likely to prove a stumbling block for the main football markets.

UAE Premiership

Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes

Fixture
Friday, March 29, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, The Sevens, Dubai

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”