From 11 June to 19 July 2026, the heart of world football beats in North America: for the first time in the tournament's history, three nations share hosting duties for the FIFA World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico are turning the entire continent into one giant football stage. With 48 teams, 104 matches and 39 tournament days, the 2026 World Cup will be the biggest and longest World Cup of all time – a mammoth event that sets new standards and ushers the game into a new era.
The host cities stretch across half a continent – from Vancouver in the north-west all the way down to Mexico City in the south. In the United States, the ball rolls in eleven cities, including New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City and San Francisco. Canada is represented by Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico contributes the metropolises of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The legendary Estadio Azteca in Mexico City has the honour of staging the opening match, while the final will be played on 19 July 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, just outside New York. Nearly 4,000 kilometres separate the northernmost and southernmost venues – a logistical challenge the tournament has never faced before.
With the expansion to 48 nations, FIFA has rolled out an entirely new tournament format. The teams are split into twelve groups of four and play a total of 72 matches in the group stage. Alongside the group winners and runners-up, the eight best third-placed sides also advance to the knockout phase. This creates, for the first time, a Round of 32 featuring 32 teams – one more knockout round than in previous tournaments. The path to the trophy is now longer than ever: the eventual champion will have to win eight matches rather than the traditional seven. For supporters, that means even more drama, more tension and significantly more live football than ever before.
Hugo Broos's Bafana Bafana have been handed the honour of opening the entire 2026 World Cup, taking on co-hosts Mexico at the legendary Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on 11 June – a fitting full-circle moment for a side returning to the global stage for the first time since South Africa itself hosted the tournament in 2010. The squad has set up its base camp in Pachuca, Mexico, at CF Pachuca's Universidad del Futbol – a sports sciences academy with an extensive football campus and a FIFA-certified Centre of Medical Excellence. The choice is a deliberate one: at 2,432 metres above sea level, Pachuca actually sits higher than Johannesburg, offering the Belgian gaffer's squad a familiar altitude environment, with the team housed at the five-star Camino Real Pachuca and just a 90-kilometre drive from Mexico City. The Group A fixtures then take Bafana north into the United States and back into Mexico: the tournament opener against Mexico on 11 June in Mexico City, the second match against Czechia on 18 June in Atlanta, and a final group game against South Korea on 24 June in the greater Monterrey area. Particularly noteworthy: this is South Africa's fourth World Cup appearance, after 1998, 2002 and 2010 – and a chance under captain Ronwen Williams for the country to do something it has never managed in its three previous campaigns: progress out of the group stage. There is even a curious touch of déjà vu about the opener: South Africa and Mexico played the opening match of the 2010 World Cup at Soccer City in Johannesburg, ending in a 1-1 draw – this time the fixture is the other way around, with El Tri at home.
The tournament's geographic spread across four time zones means a real test of endurance for fans back home in South Africa. Depending on the venue, the time difference ranges between six and nine hours – with all the host cities sitting behind SAST. Matches in Mexico and on the US West Coast often kick off, from a South African perspective, deep into the small hours of the morning, while games on the US East Coast and in Canada still get under way at fairly reasonable evening hours. Never before has a World Cup offered such a broad spread of kick-off times: from a South African point of view, the ball rolls daily from early evening around 6pm SAST until the small hours, towards 6am SAST. Anyone hoping to follow every match live will need to factor in more than a few late nights – including Bafana Bafana's tournament opener against Mexico, which falls in the early hours of 12 June South African time.
The variety of kick-off times calls for some clever planning. Matches in Mexico City and at US East Coast venues generally kick off between 6pm and 10pm SAST – nicely placed to slot into a South African evening. Bafana's second group match against Czechia in Atlanta should fall into exactly this window. Games in the middle US time zones – Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and the Monterrey area – tend to kick off around midnight or in the small hours, with Bafana's deciding group match against South Korea likely landing here. Particularly tough are matches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle or Vancouver: many of these begin between 3am and 6am South African time. The late-night group-stage matches in particular are tailor-made for catching on a radio stream – tucked up in bed, on the morning commute or as background while you get on with the day.
It's precisely these unusual kick-off times that make the 2026 World Cup a tournament built for radio listeners. Anyone who can't sit in front of a television in the middle of the night – but still doesn't want to miss a moment – is brilliantly served by a live radio stream. Audio coverage slips effortlessly into daily life: over breakfast, on the go with your smartphone, in the car or on a lunchtime walk. While many TV broadcasts are tied to fixed schedules and video streaming services demand a rock-solid internet connection, radio comes into its own with its flexibility, modest data usage and the emotional power of great commentary voices – with all the relevant South African and international streams bundled into one place.
The 2026 World Cup is about much more than just football – it's also a meeting of three cultures. The three official mascots reflect the character of the host nations: Maple the Canadian moose, Zayu the Mexican jaguar and Clutch the American bald eagle. For the first time, the final will also feature a halftime show – inspired by the Super Bowl and headlined by Coldplay. Weather conditions vary dramatically: while Vancouver and Toronto enjoy mild summer temperatures, players and supporters in Dallas, Houston and Monterrey will have to brace themselves for heat well above 35°C. High humidity in Miami and Mexico City's altitude of more than 2,200 metres above sea level add further sporting challenges on top.
Whether it's Bafana Bafana opening the tournament at the Estadio Azteca, the rest of the group-stage matches or the grand final in New York: with za.radio.net, you can follow the entire 2026 FIFA World Cup by audio – flexibly, and in the best quality. Choose between full match commentary, score updates and behind-the-scenes shows built around the World Cup, and experience the biggest sporting event of the year entirely on your own schedule – whether the match kicks off at 7pm or 3am South African time.
Listen to the matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup live via the radio web stream on za.radio.net and cheer your team on along the road to the most coveted trophy in the world. Whether you're on the go with your smartphone, in the car or at home – you'll find match results and live radio broadcasts of selected fixtures all in one place. Live and free!
Countless radio stations around the world run reports, analysis and live commentary around the clock throughout the tournament. On our 2026 FIFA World Cup overview page, we bundle these streams together – so you can quickly find the right station in your language and won't miss a match, no matter what time zone you're in.
South Africa
Czech Republic
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Paraguay
Switzerland
Morocco
Scotland
Turkey
Curaçao
Japan
Ecuador
Tunisia
Cape Verde
Egypt
Uruguay
New Zealand
Senegal
Norway
Algeria
Jordan
DR Congo
Croatia
Panama
Colombia
South Africa