Today, the final stage of the FIFA World Cup will kick off.
The World Cup, which will be held in Canada, USA, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026, will take place in a new format.
According to Modern.az, in accordance with FIFA's decision, 48 national teams will participate in this final stage. However, between 1998 and 2022, 32 teams qualified for the final stage of the World Cups.
The 2026 World Cup matches will be held in 16 cities in Canada, USA, and Mexico.
In the USA, matches will be held in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Mexico is represented in the World Cup by the cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.
Canada will host games in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver.
The groups for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czech Republic
Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey
Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, Sweden
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, Iraq
Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Democratic Republic of Congo
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
The opening match of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa (Group A) will start on June 11 at 23:00 Baku time. That time will coincide with noon in Mexico.
It should be noted that the World Cup matches held on the North American continent will take place at different times according to Baku time.
Because the USA, Mexico, and Canada are located in different time zones from Azerbaijan. For this reason, according to FIFA's schedule, the games will coincide with evening, night, and morning hours in Azerbaijan time.
For example, the South Korea – Czech Republic match in Group A will start at 06:00 AM on June 12 Baku time.
Some games will coincide with night hours. Thus, the Brazil-Morocco match in Group C will start at 02:00 AM Baku time.
The Australia – Turkey match in Group D, to be held on June 14, will start at 08:00 AM Baku time.
The Iran - New Zealand match, to be held on June 16, will start early in the morning - at 05:00 AM Baku time.
The Turkish national team's second-round match against Paraguay will also start at 08:00 AM.
The brotherly country's third-round match against the USA will also take place on June 26 in the morning - at 06:00 AM.
It should be noted that the teams finishing first and second in the groups, as well as the best 8 teams finishing third (a total of 32 national teams), will qualify for the Round of 16.
The Round of 16 matches will be held from June 28 to July 3, the Round of 8 matches from July 4 to July 7, the Quarter-final matches from July 9 to July 11, and the Semi-final matches from July 14 to July 15.
The Round of 16 matches will start between 20:00 and 07:00 Baku time, and the Round of 8 matches will start between 20:00 and 04:00. Quarter-final matches will start at different times: July 9 at 00:00; July 10 at 23:00; July 13 at 01:00 and 05:00.
The semi-final matches will be held on July 14-15, both at 23:00 Baku time.
The third-place match will be held on July 18 in Miami, USA, and the final will be held on July 19 at the “MetLife” stadium in New Jersey, USA.
The third-place match will start at 01:00 Baku time, and the final will start at 23:00.
A.Gafarli
