When are the 2026 World Cup kick-off days?

We may have some late-night waiting in Europe because the next World Cup may be held in conjunction with the USA, Canada, and Mexico...

When the USA, Mexico, and Canada welcome the rest of the world to their individual door for the 2026 World Cup, the 32-team tournament may now reach 48.

What time should we expect games to begin and what time should we therefore anticipate taking to our individual sofas and bars, which may cause scheduling issues for the TV audiences serving all over the world?

What we are currently aware of regarding the 2026 World Cup's start and end dates.

When did 2026 World Cup kick-off days been announced?

Although the precise kick-off times have not been released by FIFA, and they are not anticipated until after the group stage last draw has been held in late 2025. The match dates and locations for all 104 games have been announced.

There has been some proposal that's because FIFA want to try and manage games to timeslots that maximise the potential global market: if Poland are playing South Korea, to find a particularly unpleasant hypothetical example, it may make sense to plan that for a teatime kick-off US time to avoid it being played in the middle of the night in either country.

The 2014 World Cup featured game at 1pm, 5pm, 7pm and ( for just one game ) 10pm Brasilia day, which translated to 5pm, 9pm, 11pm and 2am in English summer day.

However, Brasilia time is only four hours behind the UK in the ( northern hemisphere ) summer, some games at the 2026 World Cup will be played in time zones that are eight hours behind UK time and nine behind much of Europe. FIFA may encounter a real operational challenge as a result, which could cause earlier kick-off times.

If we consider past events in the US and Mexico, all games at Mexico 86 were played at either noon or 4 p.m., though just half as many games were allowed to play. USA 94 meanwhile had an 11: 30am ( Central time ) kick-off time for a handful of games, which for US West Coast viewers was 9: 30am and for UK viewers was 5: 30pm.

The 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada made fewer agreements, with the earliest activities kicking off at 2pm native time (7-9pm UK moment, depending which portion of Canada it was held in ).

With the lengthened style allowing for up to four schedules to be filled each day in the group stage, it may make sense to play games against the three host countries and/or Central and South American nations in the late kick-offs.

In the earlier evenings, which are typically held in and around the Greenwich circle, movies starring only those from European and African nations had perform better.

That may not always be possible, however, and some inconvenient kick-off times are probably close to an inevitability: in 2014, for instance, Ivory Coast v Japan kicked off at 10pm Brasilia time, which was 10am Japanese time ( not so bad ) but 1am in the Ivory Coast ( not great ).

Our recommendation is to save your time zone computer for spring 2025.