With just 32 days to go, the countdown to the World Cup 2026 in Canada, Mexico and the USA is well and truly on.
Every day between now and the big kick-off on June 11, LiveScore guides you through a history of the World Cup in numbers…
32 Days to Go
The 2026 World Cup is going to be the largest in history. The total number of matches will increase from 64 to 104 as the number of participants increases to 48. It marks the first change to the World Cup since 1998.
France ‘98 marked the first 32-team tournament in the competition’s history, an increase on the 24 teams that took part between 1982 and 1994. Les Bleus famously won the World Cup for the first time back in 1998 as a Zinedine Zidane-inspired France defeated heavyweights Brazil.
And having won the first World Cup following the last major change, France will be hoping history can repeat itself as they look to go the distance for the third time.
33 Days to Go
FIFA as an organisation was first established in 1904, with Frenchman Jules Rimet a founding member. The First World War between 1914 and 1918 put FIFA’s plans for global football domination on hold, and it wasn’t until Rimet was elected president in 1921 that the World Cup turned from dream to reality.
Nine years later, and the first ever World Cup took place in Uruguay. Rimet held his position as FIFA president for 33 years until 1954. Two years later, and at the age of 83, Rimet passed away. He remains FIFA’s longest-ever serving president.
Having been credited as the inventor of the competitor, the original World Cup trophy was initially called the Jules Rimet Trophy in his honour and was stolen shortly before the 1966 tournament but was famously found by a dog named Pickles.
34 Days to Go
Italy won their first ever World Cup in 1934, and became the first team to defend the trophy in 1938. They did so with Vittorio Pozzo in charge on both occasions, and the Italian remains the only manager to win the World Cup more than once as a manager.
In addition, Luis Monti was part of Italy’s 1934 World Cup winning squad. He is the only player to have ever played in two World Cup finals for two different nations. Indeed, Monti was a losing finalist with Argentina in 1930 before going one better with the Azzurri four years later.
Fast forward to the present day, and Didier Deschamps came close to matching Pozzo’s achievement but failed to win in Qatar in 2022, falling to Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina on penalties in Qatar. The former midfielder will leave his role as France boss after the 2026 showpiece, and will hope to do so with a second managerial winners’ medal around his neck.
35 Days to Go
King Carol II made it his mission to ensure Romania made it to the inaugural World Cup back in 1930 having assumed the throne in the weeks leading up to the showpiece in Uruguay.
The issue, though, was that Carol II seized power just 35 days before the maiden edition of the tournament. The 37-year-old was undeterred by the time constraints, however, and managed to beat the FIFA registration deadline with three days to spare.
And rather than entrust head coach Costel Radulescu with selecting the squad, Carol II did so himself. The king granted amnesty to all players suspended for football-related offences, though he did face a minor obstacle. The bulk of Romania’s best players worked for an oil company in England.
They understandably refused to grant the players the required three-month leave in order to represent their nation in Uruguay. And if they left without permission? They’d have no job to return to. Carol II intervened, flexed his considerable muscle, and won this battle as the company backed down.
Was it worth it? Well, Romania won their first game, beating Peru 3-1, before losing to hosts and eventual winners Uruguay 4-0 as they were knocked out at the group stages.
36 Days to Go
While the majority of the teams ranked first to 48th in the FIFA World Ranking have qualified for this World Cup, the nation ranked 36th were not eligible to take part.
Russia were suspended from FIFA competition in 2022 following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, meaning they have missed both World Cups since hosting the tournament in 2018.
A number of football associations have been banned from World Cup participation over the years, including Germany and Japan in 1950 – both as a result of their roles in the Second World War – and South Africa, who were expelled from FIFA in 1976 due to the nation’s oppressive apartheid regime, not returning to the world stage until the early 90s.
37 Days to Go
The World Cup 2026 will last 37 days, beginning on June 11 in Mexico City and finishing with the final in New York on July 19.
Games will be played on 32 of those 37 days, including 27 in a row from the start of the tournament until a one-day break between the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
There will be 34 days between the end of the World Cup and the start of the 2026/27 Premier League season, which kicks off on August 22.
38 Days to Go
The 1938 World Cup was the last to be held before the Second World War forced a 12-year gap between tournaments.
Hosted by France for the first time, reigning champions Italy retained the trophy thanks to a 4-2 victory over Hungary in the final – in which Gino Colaussi and Silvio Piola both bagged braces.
Brazil’s Leonidas finished as top scorer with seven goals, including two in a 4-2 third place play-off win against Sweden.
The tournament saw two countries make their World Cup debut: the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) and Cuba – neither of whom have qualified since.
39 Days to Go
Lionel Messi will turn 39 during this World Cup, where he’ll be leading Argentina’s defence of their World Cup crown – having captained his nation to glory in Qatar four years ago.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner also received the Golden Ball as player of the tournament in 2022, where he broke the record for the most games played at the World Cup.
Messi is also poised to appear at a sixth finals, something no player has ever previously managed, having made his World Cup debut in 2006 and featured at every edition since – returning in 2018 having initially announced his international retirement two years earlier.
40 Days to Go
The number of matches played at the World Cup 2026 will increase by 40 from the previous tournament, with 104 games taking place this summer.
Some 72 of those fixtures will make up the group stage, with the number of groups increasing from eight to 12.
Playing in Group I, which looks to be the dreaded ‘group of death’, are Iraq, who return to the World Cup after 40 years away. The Lions of Mesopotamia will face Norway, Senegal and two-time world champions France, having beaten Bolivia in the inter-confederation play-off tournament to book their place at the finals.
41 Days to Go
Cristiano Ronaldo made history during Portugal’s World Cup qualifying campaign. The Portuguese hitman struck five times across five appearances as Roberto Martinez’s side booked their World Cup spot with relative ease.
Admittedly, he should miss Portugal’s opening two World Cup games owing to his dismissal against the Republic of Ireland. However, the final two matches of Ronaldo’s three-match ban has been suspended for one year.
The forward, who turned 41 in February, has scored 41 World Cup qualifying goals, which is a record. That he did so in just 52 appearances is also commendable. Portugal will hope Ronaldo can match the feat at the summer showpiece, starting with their Group K opener against DR Congo next month.
42 Days to Go
Roger Milla had the title of Cameroon’s record scorer for quite some time. Now third in the rundown behind Samuel Eto’o and Vincent Aboubakar, Milla struck 43 times across 77 outings for the Indomitable Lions.
The former striker made the headlines for all the right reasons, whether it was his goal record for both club and country, or his memorable celebration. The dance by the corner flag was synonymous with the Cameroon legend.
And having come off the bench at USA ‘94 to bag a second-half consolation in a group stage 6-1 loss to Russia, Milla wrote his name into the record books. Yes, at 42 years and 39 days, Milla is the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history. It was a record he’d actually set himself four years earlier at Italia ‘90. The strike against Russia in 1994 was his last for Cameroon.
43 Days to Go
45,000 seater stadium BMO Field will play host to six World Cup matches in total, including co-hosts’ Canada’s tournament opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12th.
Ghana’s game against Panama, Germany v Cote d’Ivoire, Panama’s meeting with Croatia, Senegal’s clash with Iraq and a round-of-32 clash will take place in Toronto over the summer.
And at 43 degrees north, Toronto is one of the most northerly cities to host the summer showpiece. It’s not quite as northerly as Vancouver, which is located close to the 49th parallel north.
44 Days to Go
Italy fluffed their lines in their bid to make the 2026 World Cup, losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina as they - at the time of writing - missed out on a third successive tournament.
The Azzurri, World Cup winners in 2006, are one of the most successful teams in the competition’s history. To miss out again is a travesty as they seek to add to their four titles.
Champions in 1934, they became the first team to defend the World Cup as they lifted the 1938 title. They didn’t do so again until 1982. A 44-year gap between their second and third trophies is the longest between titles in tournament history.
45 Days to Go
They say age is just a number, and it rang true for Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary.
Egypt endured a disappointing first tournament in 28 years at Russia in 2018, losing their opening two group games to Uruguay and the World Cup hosts. A much-changed Pharaohs side took to the field for the eventual 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia, with El Hadary called upon.
And at 45 years and 161 days, the legendary shotstopper became not only the oldest player in World Cup history, but the competition’s oldest ever debutant. Another goalkeeper - Faryd Mondragon - previously held the record having started Colombia’s 4-1 win over Japan, three days after his 43rd birthday at Brazil 2014.
46 Days to Go
The World Cup has seen its fair share of veteran players take to the pitch over the years, but none have been as old as MacDonald Taylor Sr.
Aged 46 years and 217 days when he played for the US Virgin Islands against St. Kitts and Nevis in a 2006 World Cup qualifier, the defender still holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest men’s international footballer.
Seven players have appeared at the World Cup finals beyond their 40th birthday, with legendary Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff the first to do so in 1982 – when he captained the Azzurri to glory in Spain.
47 Days to Go
In 1947, one of the World Cup greats was born in Amsterdam: three-time Ballon d’Or-winning Dutch icon Johan Cruyff.
Arguably the finest player never to lift the trophy, Cruyff only appeared at one World Cup – the 1974 edition in West Germany – but he well and truly left his mark on the history of football’s grandest competition.
Inspirational captain as the Netherlands reached their first World Cup final, Cruyff stunned the world with his eponymous turn against Sweden in the first round and scored three goals at the tournament – throughout which he famously wore two stripes instead of the usual three on his number 14 Adidas shirt, out of respect for his sponsorship deal with rival brand Puma.
48 Days to Go
This year’s World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams, an expansion of 16 from the previous edition.
The World Cup grew to 32 teams at the 1998 tournament in France, having been a 24-team competition from 1982 until 1994 – the last time the USA were hosts.
Between 1954 and 1978, 16 teams competed in the World Cup, while the first four editions (1930, 1934, 1938 and 1950) involved 13, 16, 15 and 13 teams respectively.
With the World Cup 2026 being the biggest-ever, it will be the first to have a Round of 32. The top two in each of the 12 groups will advance to that stage, along with the eight best second-placed sides.
49 Days to Go
The San Francisco 49ers are among 13 NFL teams whose stadiums will play host to the other kind of football this summer.
In fact, only four of the venues in use for the World Cup 2026 cater primarily to football, Toronto’s BMO Field, and all three stadiums in Mexico: the Estadio Banorte (aka the iconic Estadio Azteca) in Mexico City, the Estadio BBVA in Monterrey and the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara.
Opened in 2014, the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium (which will temporarily become the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in line with FIFA’s policy on sponsored stadium names) will stage six games at the tournament, beginning with the Group B clash between Qatar and Switzerland on June 13.
50 Days to Go
After a 12-year hiatus due to the Second World War, the World Cup returned in 1950 for its fourth edition – the first to be hosted by Brazil.
Uniquely, this World Cup didn’t have a one-match final, instead employing a final group phase – and it produced one of the most iconic games in the history of the competition: the Maracanaco (the Maracana Smash).
Needing just a draw at the iconic Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil blew a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 to Uruguay.
Officially, 173,850 people were inside the stadium to see Alcides Ghiggi’s 79th-minute winner put the newly renamed Jules Rimet Cup in Uruguay’s hands for the second time.
The 1950 World Cup also marked England’s first appearance at the tournament, with Walter Winterbottom’s side famously beaten 1-0 by the USA in Belo Horizonte.
