For the first time, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted across three different countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. Kansas City is the smallest of the 16 selected cities for the tournament, with six matches coming to the metro next June and July.
This is the first time Kansas City will hold a global sporting event of this scale, with about 650,000 expected to come into town for the games. That’s a big crowd, and fans both locally and from around the globe will want to be part of the action.
Because we’re Midwest nice, KCUR decided to make it easier for you to jump on the World Cup bandwagon and bring your superfan A-game.
And don’t worry, we’ll update information regularly on this page so you can keep up as the World Cup approaches and more details develop. Find more of KCUR's World Cup coverage here.
When is the World Cup?
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a 104-game tournament featuring 48 competing countries. It will kick off June 11, 2026, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
You can see a live countdown clock for the start of the tournament here or get a selfie in front of one at Kansas City’s Union Station entrance lobby, or at Terminal A inside the new Kansas City International Airport.
The tournament will last 39 days and take place across 16 North American cities.
- USA: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle
- Canada: Toronto, Vancouver
- Mexico: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
This is the full schedule for all the matches.
The World Cup final will be held at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, 2026.
Can I still get tickets to World Cup games?
Yes, but ticketing for all games — including the ones in Kansas City — happens in phases through a lottery draw system.
For access to all ticket sales, you’ll need to register a profile through FIFA’s site.
Phase 1 and 2 of the ticket draws have closed, and successful entrants should already be notified of their opportunity to purchase tickets.
There is still the random selection draw phase, which begins after the World Cup teams are finalized on Dec. 5, 2025 in the Final Draw. Fans will be able to apply for specific matches once those matchups are announced.
Then, at some point closer to the tournament's start, fans can purchase last minute tickets on a first-come, first-served basis.
You can also can find premium (AKA more expensive) hospitality packages for games.
For information on the resale/exchange marketplace or travel visa requirements, read FIFA’s ticket site very carefully.
So what will happen in Kansas City?
Kansas City will host six matches at GEHA Arrowhead Stadium, which will be renamed Kansas City Stadium for the tournament:
- Group Stage: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
- Group Stage: Saturday, June 20, 2026
- Group Stage: Thursday, June 25, 2026
- Group Stage: Saturday, June 27, 2026
- Round of 32: Friday, July 3, 2026
- Quarter-Final: Saturday, July 11, 2026
We won’t know which Group Stage teams will play until the Final Draw on Dec. 5, 2025.
- EVENT: Kansas City is hosting a live watch party for the FIFA World Cup Final Draw on Dec. 5 at KC Live! in the Power & Light District. Doors open at 9 a.m. and festivities begin at 10 a.m. Other businesses around the city are planning watch parties as well.
Once the teams are selected, they’ll finalize their base camp locations — the facilities where they will practice and gather.
KC 2026 is the nonprofit organizing logistics for the games across Kansas City. They’ve been recruiting volunteers and offering resources for local businesses.
Kansas City's World Cup Volunteer Center has been established the third floor of Union Station to serve as the city's home base for training and support. Applicants are being screened through the end of the year. Offers and background checks will be made in early 2026, and individual shifts will be confirmed in March and April.
KC 2026 is also planning an elaborate Fan Fest experience on the lawn in front of the National WWI Museum and Memorial with a giant screen, stage and activities. That’s a way for anyone to interact with the World Cup excitement in Kansas City, even if you don’t have tickets to a game.
You can expect to find watch parties and festivities at Power & Light, which has served as an iconic soccer gathering zone in the past, as well as other pop ups across the city.
Plus, bars and restaurants in Kansas City will be able to stay open and serve alcohol from 6 a.m. to 5 a.m. (that's 23 hours a day!) during the month of the World Cup, thanks to a statewide exemption aimed at helping boost business. So if you want to watch a game broadcast in a totally different time zone, you'll have a place to do that.
Want a soundtrack for your excitement? Kansas City hip-hop legend Tech n9ne has already written the official host city theme song. (He knows a thing or two about themes for championship-winning teams.)
And local artist Jadie Arnett’s “Woven Together” was chosen from over 100 submissions as Kansas City’s official host city poster. It depicts a game day scarf and images of Kansas and Missouri.
Local businesses, and art groups, are already preparing for the influx of people, as are the Kansas City Police Department and the advocacy group MOCSA, which is leading sexual-assault intervention trainings for service industry workers.
How will people get around Kansas City?
KC 2026 has a World Cup transit plan to help residents and visitors get around during the tournament, tapping into existing routes and expanding with new ones.
That plan includes procuring 215 extra buses, which will run routes between June 11 and July 13 to matches at Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City airport, the FIFA Fan Festival, hotel centers and key destinations on both sides of the state line.
There will be 15 “region direct” routes that will run between the FIFA Fan Festival and different areas of the metro.
- North Kansas City (520 E 19th Ave, North Kansas City, MO)
- Worlds of Fun (4545 Worlds of Fun Ave, Kansas City, MO)
- Liberty (1915 College Street, Liberty, MO)
- Boardwalk Square (8600 N Boardwalk Ave, Kansas City, MO)
- Independence Square (13910 E Truman Road, Independence, MO)
- Independence Center (18801 E 39th St S, Independence, MO)
- Lee’s Summit (217 SW Main St, Lee's Summit, MO)
- 3-Trails Transit Center (9449 Blue Ridge Blvd, Kansas City, MO)
- Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium (6700 Swope Pkwy, Kansas City, MO)
- Overland Park Convention Center (6000 College Blvd, Overland Park, KS)
- Oak Park Mall (11149 W 95th St, Overland Park, KS)
- Mission Transit Center (5251 Johnson Dr, Mission, KS)
- Lenexa City Center (8741 Ryckert St, Lenexa, KS)
- The Legends (10824 Parallel Pkwy SPC 700, Kansas City, KS)
- Lawrence (2315 Bob Billings Pkwy, Lawrence, KS)
On the six match days that Kansas City hosts, KC2026 will run buses for game attendees between four paid park and ride locations, as well as the fan fest, to Arrowhead Stadium. These direct routes are located at:
- Highway 40 (Highway 40 & Stadium Dr, Kansas City, MO)
- Independence Center (18801 E 39th St S, Independence, MO)
- Oak Park Mall (1149 W 95th St, Overland Park, KS)
- North Kansas City (520 E 19th Ave, North Kansas City, MO)
The organization will also run a direct route between KCI to downtown.
Johnson County will also run a free bus shuttle service between the Kansas City Airport, the Overland Park Convention Center and Lenexa City Center. That service will start up on March 1, 2026, and run through Nov. 30, 2026.
In the meantime, here are Ride KC’s bus maps and schedules.
The newly expanded, and free, KC Streetcar line has a live tracker you can monitor. This fun guide from KCUR can help you explore every stop along the route. While the streetcar is a great way to move through midtown and downtown Kansas City (and soon make it to a Current match on the riverfront), it won’t get you to Arrowhead Stadium itself.
The city also offers paratransit RideShare and BikeShare. Lyft and Uber operate in the city, as well, but expect demand to cause high prices.
Why was Kansas City picked to host the World Cup?
Kansas City has a long history with soccer. You can learn more about some of the early immigrants who first brought the game to the city here, from KCUR’s podcast A People’s History of Kansas City.
And it was Kansas City businessman Lamar Hunt, more famously known as the patriarch of the Chiefs, who was instrumental in developing professional soccer leagues and attracting the country’s last FIFA World Cup, back in 1994.
Now Kansas City has two professional soccer teams: a men’s MLS team, Sporting KC, and a women’s NWSL team, the Current.
The Current, whose official colors are teal and red, has given Kansas City the unofficial nickname of “Teal Town.” They were the first professional women’s team in the world to have a stadium built just for them: CPKC Stadium, on the Berkley Riverfront.
If you want to play soccer, Kansas City is home to plenty of recreational leagues for kids and adults.
Or if you just want to cheer, there are soccer fan supporter groups: The KC Blue Crew pulls for the Current, and The Cauldron for Sporting KC. You can even find local supporter groups for clubs around the globe. The city just recently hosted the Premier League Fan Festival, attracting thousands of people.
We also just happen to be the hometown of Jason Sudeikis, co-creator and star of the popular soccer series, Ted Lasso -- which recently shot its fourth season in Kansas City. Sudeikis said the show was partly inspired by his actual childhood coach at Shawnee Mission West High School.
How do countries qualify for the FIFA World Cup?
The sport Association Football, known in the U.S. as soccer, has different professional leagues and tournaments around the world.
FIFA oversees the largest of them all, the World Cup, which takes place every four years.
The FIFA tournament qualifying process takes years. This article explains the U.S. National team’s schedule for FIFA’s international window, friendlies and other tournaments.
Technically, this upcoming 2026 FIFA tournament started soon after the last one ended, in September 2023. You can already find their international match calendar into 2030.
A record 48 teams will qualify to compete in the upcoming 2026 games, making this the biggest FIFA World Cup tournament ever.
These are the 121 nations that didn’t qualify. :(
Geographically, FIFA puts member countries into six continental confederations, which then get a determined amount of qualifying spots.
- AFC (Asia): 8 direct qualification spots + 1 playoff spot
- CAF (Africa): 9 direct qualification spots + 1 playoff spot
- CONCACAF (North America, Central America, and Caribbean): 3 direct qualification spots + 2 playoff spots (plus 3 host nations)
- CONMEBOL (South America): 6 direct qualification spots + 1 playoff spot
- OFC (Oceania) 1 direct qualification spot + 1 playoff spot
- UEFA (Europe) 16 direct qualification spots
The final six teams will be decided in part during the Nov. 20, 2025 draw and then in March 2026 during the FIFA play-off tournament and European Play-offs.
(If you’re wondering how the World Cup differs from the Olympic men’s soccer tournament, it’s a lot. World Cup teams have to take a smaller roster and abide by player age limits — and it’s not a FIFA-sanctioned tournament.)
How does the FIFA World Cup tournament work?
The FIFA World Cup tournament is broken down into different rounds. This video explains it very well!
The Group Stage: Thursday, June 11 - Saturday, June 27
- All teams will be divided up into 12 groups of four teams and will compete within their group.
- The group stage point system is:
- Win: 3 points
- Draw: 1 point
- Loss: 0 point
- The top two teams from each group will advance, plus the eight best third-place teams. This part is new!
Round of 32: Sunday, June 28 - Friday, July 3
- For the first time in tournament history, there will be a new knockout round: the round of 32.
- This gives more teams a chance to advance further in the tournament, but also means teams going to the final will have to win five knockout matches (up from four).
The teams that advance will continue on to the final knockout rounds.
- The round of 16: Saturday, July 4 - Tuesday, July 7
- Quarter-Finals: Thursday, July 9 - Saturday, July 11
- Semi-Finals: Tuesday, July 14 - Wednesday, July 15
- Final: Saturday, July 18 - Sunday, July 19
What are the rules of World Cup soccer?
Getting on the same page about the rules of soccer is a critical part of organizing an international tournament of this scale.
FIFA uses the laws of the game from the International Football Association Board, translated into multiple languages.
Most of us know the basics of the game. You kick the ball with your foot into the opponent’s goal, and only the goalie can touch the ball with their hands while it is in play within their own penalty box area.
Here’s a direct link to the explanation of the offside (not “offsides”) rule. That way you’ll be ready in those especially heated moments.
The basic rules during the knockout phase of the tournament are:
- Matches have two halves of 45 minutes each. Unlike in American football, the clock never stops, even during time-outs.
- Referees add additional “stoppage time” at the end of each half -- to compensate for time lost to injuries, substitutions and goal celebrations.
- If the score is tied at the end of normal time, the teams play two additional 15-minute halves.
- If the game is still tied, each team selects five players for a penalty shootout, who will try to kick a goal against the other team’s goalie. Best out of five wins.
- If a tie continues, then the game goes to sudden death. Teams will take turns shooting penalties until one team scores and the other team misses.
What do I need to know about the U.S. men’s team?
In total, the U.S. men’s team has appeared in 11 World Cups throughout history.
They got third place in the first-ever tournament in 1930, but hit a dry spell through most of the 20th century. The team started making more regular appearances again after 1990, even reaching the quarterfinals in 2002. They failed to qualify at all in 2018, but advanced to the knockout stage in 2022 before being defeated by the Netherlands.
As tournament co-hosts in 2026, the USA secured their spot and are looking to do better than their last appearance during the Qatar games of 2022, when the team exited in the Round of 16.
By contrast, the women’s national team has qualified for every single Women’s FIFA World Cup since the first one in 1991, and has won four of them, mostly recently in 2019 against the Netherlands.
The U.S. women’s team have already secured their spot for the 2027 women’s World Cup games in Brazil.
We won’t know exactly who will be on the full 26-man roster until the games get closer, but a key person to keep an eye out for is star forward Christian Pulisic, who plays for AC Milan.
This will be the first time Mauricio Pochettino will coach a national team. A former Argentinian player who once played in World Cup games, his coaching experience lies more in the European leagues.
We’re not likely to see many Kansas City player connections on the men’s national team, like when Sporting KC’s Graham Zusi and Matt Besler played in the 2014 tournament.
But 2024 MLS Assistant referee of the year Kyle Atkins, a Kansas City resident and Kansas State grad, refereed in the 2022 Qatar World Cup Games and could be a part of the upcoming games.
Tips for soccer fans
If you’re rooting for the USA, red, white and blue are your go-to colors, obviously.
If you’re rooting for a different country, the chants and colors will tend to match that particular nation’s flag,
Do a little research ahead of time, and see if you can find fellow fans to watch a match with, like at a local business or restaurant that has ties to a particular country. That can be a fun way to experience the World Cup even if you’re not particularly invested.
If you’re planning an elaborate outfit, or even something simple for fan fest or the game, be sure to check requirements for what’s allowed ahead of time so you can have fun and not worry about being denied access.
The World Cup promises to be both an intense and exciting time in Kansas City -- maybe a little annoying for locals going about their normal lives, and all-consuming for the wild fans expected to descend upon the region.
No matter where you land on the spectrum, you’ll likely be affected by the games in some form. So be ready, and let’s show the world what Kansas City has to offer.
For tips on fun things to do while you’re here, check out our ultimate guide to Kansas City.
