FIFA has revealed the full schedule for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Philly now knows which teams will be coming for the five group stage games at Lincoln Financial Field next summer.
Group stage (all times are ET)
June 14 at 7 p.m: Group E – Côte d’Ivoire vs Ecuador
June 19 at 9 p.m: Group C – Brazil vs Haiti
June 22 at 5 p.m: Group I – France vs Iraq/Bolivia/Suriname
June 25 at 4 p.m: Group E – Curacao vs Côte d’Ivoire
June 27 at 5 p.m. Group L – Croatia vs. Ghana
Round of 16
July 4, 5 p.m.: Winner of Match 74 in Boston vs. Winner of Match 77 in New York/New Jersey
Here’s how the full tournament schedule looks. It’s also worth looking at the games at Boston’s Gillette Stadium and East Rutherford’s Metlife, given the close proximity:
The Linc — which will go by “Philadelphia Stadium” for the tournament, due to FIFA’s sponsorship rules — will host two previous World Cup winners in Brazil and France, who have won the tournament five and two times, respectively.
“We are excited because these are, first off, incredibly storied, powerhouse teams,” said Philadelphia Soccer 2026’s host city executive Meg Kane. “The opportunity of [France team member and Real Madrid superstar forward] Kylian Mbappe playing in the World Cup in Philadelphia is extraordinary.”
France’s opponent will be decided with a qualification playoff series in March, where the winner between Bolivia and Suriname will face Iraq for a spot in the tournament.
Brazil has won the World Cup the most times, and Philly already received a sample of what the country’s fan base is like during last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup, which had four Brazilian clubs playing in South Philly. Much of the fan bases of those teams travelled in from various parts of the Northeast U.S.
“We loved Brazilian fans [this] year,” Kane said “Their energy and enthusiasm, and the way that they just embraced the city, was something that was so exciting. whether they were Flamengo or Botafogo or Palmeiras, it was such a unique experience.”
Their opponents will be Haiti, which should come as welcome news to fans of Philadelphia Union midfielder Danley Jean Jacques and members of the Haitian community in the city. Mount Airy resident Steve Jules was born in Haiti, and attended Friday’s watch party for the draw at Stateside Live! He said watching Haiti in the World Cup — which the nation hasn’t experienced since the team last qualified in 1974 — would fulfill a lifelong dream.
“It’s good to see soccer in Philadelphia, and to see we have such a ravenous, hungry scene willing to support and show the love of soccer,” he said.
Haiti and Iran are both currently under a full travel ban by the Trump administration. How that will line up with FIFA and the administration’s initiative to prioritize U.S. visa appointments for World Cup ticket holders is murky.
“Obviously, we can only control what we can control, and we cannot necessarily control what is happening at the federal level,” Kane said. “Philadelphia Soccer 2026 will absolutely be prepared, though, to welcome any and all fans from Haiti, or any and all fans from across the United States of Haitian descent that want to come and celebrate their team coming back to the World Cup for the first time in a very long time.”
“We are a welcoming city. We are a World Heritage City, and it is our absolute pleasure to welcome anyone from any country, anywhere, to come celebrate with us,” city representative Jazelle Jones added.
Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Ecuador and Ghana should bring a strong combination of World Cup pedigree and local presence as well, with a combined 20 World Cup appearances between them.
Curaçao, the smallest nation to ever play at the World Cup, brings a Cinderella storyline to the tournament.
As for the July 4 game — we’ll get into the chances of the U.S. playing here in a bit, hold on — Kane says that the dream scenario would be France returning to face four-time champion Germany, which also checks the “strong local presence” box for Philly.
“If you could have two powerhouses that are playing on July Fourth, it would be spectacular … and a great way for us to really lead into the Welcome America celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that evening.” Kane said.
There are a couple scenarios that could put the U.S. team in Philly for the July 4 game, but they are ones that Kane, the host committee and American soccer fans would prefer not happen.
“There was only one path for the U.S men’s national team to reach Philadelphia: They have to finish third in their group,” Kane said. “We would like that to not happen, we’d like the U.S men’s national team to finish first in their group.”
The USMNT will first face Paraguay, a team they beat, 2-1, in a “friendly” at Chester’s Subaru Park last month, on Friday, June 12, in Los Angeles. They next face Australia, who they defeated in October, in Seattle on June 19. Lastly, it’s a June 25 match back in LA against the winner of UEFA Playoff C — either Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia or Turkey. Turkey is the highest ranked of all potential opponents and beat the U.S. in June.
At the risk of courting overconfidence, It’s a very favorable draw for the U.S.
“I don’t think we could have really asked for a better draw,” said Nick Custodio, vice president of the Philly chapter of the U.S. supporters’ group, the American Outlaws. “We avoided some of the trap games in there, like Norway or Italy. So I think we’re very solid.”
National team and Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams said he’s taking no opponent for granted, though.
“There’s no easy game in the World Cup. In fact, I think some of the hardest games in the last World Cup were against lesser opponents.” he said. “For us, moving forward, we need to prepare in the right way. But it’s fun knowing that we’ve played some of these opponents before.”
Without having to play qualifiers for the tournament, because they are co-hosting it, coach Mauricio Pochettino and his team have had to instill a sense of competition and edginess to keep them from getting complacent playing exhibition games. Part of that has come from playing teams like Paraguay, Turkey and Uruguay, who never really play with an exhibition mindset.
“They were friendlies, while also they weren’t very friendly,” said Charlotte FC defender Tim Ream, one of the national team’s veteran players. “And now you add in the heightened aggression and experience of a World Cup, and they’re all finals, they all mean something now. Everything is going to be ramped up exponentially”
The post Matchups set for Philly’s five group stage World Cup contests appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY.
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