World Cup 2026: All you need to know ahead of North America next summer

Scotland confirmed their return to the biggest stage in all of sport for the first time in 28 years when they secured a place at the 2026 World Cup with a dramatic victory over Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday night.

The tournament being held across North America next summer will be the men’s national team’s ninth World Cup in total and first since France 1998.

Steve Clarke’s side ran out 4-2 winners thanks to two injury goals in the southside of Glasgow, sparking joyous celebrations throughout the country.

But as the build-up begins and the Tartan Army start looking forward and making plans for a trip of a lifetime across the Atlantic, what happens next and what are the dates we should be looking out for?

Host cities

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be played across three countries for the first time, with the USA, Mexico, and Canada all hosting games.

Mexico has previously hosted the tournament on two occasions, with the 1986 edition being the last time Scotland made a major tournament outside of Europe.

Meanwhile the States have hosted once back in 1994, and Canada will be hosting for the first time.

The groups will be split into regions, with a western region, a central region and an eastern region.

Western region: (Pacific Standard Time – eight hours behind UK)

Los Angeles (USA)

San Francisco (USA)

Seattle (USA)

Vancouver (Canada)

Central region: (Central Standard Times – six hours behind UK)

Dallas (USA)

Guadalajara (Mexico)

Houston (USA)

Kansas City (USA)

Mexico City (Mexico)

Monterrey (Mexico)

Eastern region (Eastern Standard Time – five hours behind UK)

Atlanta (USA)

Boston (USA)

Miami (USA)

New York/New Jersey (USA)

Philadelphia (USA)

Toronto (Canada)

Group stage draw

Scotland, who have never been past the group stage at any major tournament, will find out their three initial opponents at the FIFA draw on Friday, December 5.

The draw, which will take place in Washington, will start at around 5pm UK time.

Opening games

The tournament will kick-off on Thursday, June 11, with Group A games in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Mexico will get the competition under way with their first game, which will be played at the Azteca Stadium, with the two other sides in their group in action straight after.

Canada and USA will play their first games the following day on Friday, June 12, with matches in Toronto and Los Angeles respectively.

The rest of the first round of fixtures will take place up until June 17, with the second round of group games between June 18 and June 23.

The group stage will conclude with the final round of matches between June 24 and June 27.

The knockout stage begins on June 28, with the last-32 taking place until July 3, before the last-16, quarter-finals and semi-finals are played between July 4 and July 15.

The winner will be crowned following the final, which will be played at the Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, New York, on July 19.

Who else has qualified?

There will be 46 different nations competing at the World Cup for the first time, up from the 32 there has been since 1998.

Following Tuesday night’s results, 42 sides have secured their place at the finals already, with the final six slots to be decided by the play-offs.

Teams already qualified:

USA
Mexico
Canada
Scotland
Japan
New Zealand
Iran
Argentina
Uzbekistan
South Korea
Jordan
Australia
Brazil
Ecuador
Uruguay
Colombia
Paraguay
Morocco
Tunisia
Egypt
Algeria
Ghana
Cape Verde
South Africa
Qatar
England
Saudi Arabia
Ivory Coast
Senegal
France
Croatia
Portugal
Norway
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
Austria
Switzerland
Spain
Panama
Haiti
Curacao

Kick-off times

Over 100 games will be played during the month-long extravaganza of football, split over five different time slots.

The matches will kick off at 5pm, 8pm, 11pm and 2am UK-time.

Potential opponents

Scotland will be in Pot 3 for the group stage draw, meaning they will be drawn against one team from each of the remaining three pots.

So, from Pot 1 they could play against the likes of world champions Argentina, Brazil, who they met in the opening game of 1998, or one of the host nations.

Croatia, Morocco, Japan, South Korea and Senegal are among the 12 potential Pot 2 opponents, and in Pot 3 will be Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti and New Zealand, as well as the the six play-off winners that could potentially include the likes of Italy, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Denmark.

Dream group?

A potential dream group, to leave Scotland with, on paper at least, the most favourable chance to make the knockout stages, would look something like.