Which of the following statements relating to 2026 FIFA Men's Football World Cup is/are correct ? 1. USA, Mexico and Canada will jointly host the event. 2. 48 teams shall participate in the event. Select the answer using the codes given below :
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Answer
Why
Correct — C, (c) Both 1 and 2. Both statements about the 2026 FIFA Men's Football World Cup are accurate. STATEMENT 1 — 'USA, Mexico and Canada will jointly host the event.' CORRECT. The 2026 tournament was awarded in June 2018 to the United Bid of Canada, Mexico and the United States, which defeated a rival bid from Morocco at the FIFA Congress in Moscow. It is the first World Cup to be hosted by three countries. The great majority of the matches, including the final, are to be played in the United States, with a smaller number in Mexico and Canada. Mexico thereby becomes the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times, having staged it in 1970 and 1986. STATEMENT 2 — '48 teams shall participate in the event.' CORRECT. The FIFA Council decided in January 2017 to expand the tournament from 32 teams to 48, with effect from 2026. The expansion also changed the shape of the competition: the 48 teams are drawn into twelve groups of four, from which the twelve group winners, the twelve runners-up and the eight best third-placed teams advance to a round of thirty-two, so the knockout phase has an extra round and the tournament runs to 104 matches instead of 64. The expanded field also enlarged the continental allocations, which is why the Asian Football Confederation's quota rose and more Asian nations qualified for 2026 than for any previous World Cup. Both statements being correct, the answer is (c).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)1 only — This accepts the hosting arrangement and rejects the number of teams, but 48 is correct. The figure sometimes misremembered is 32, which was the size of the field from the 1998 tournament in France through to 2022 in Qatar — seven editions, long enough for the number to feel permanent. The FIFA Council's decision of January 2017 raised it to 48 from 2026 onwards. A candidate who last checked the format during the 2022 World Cup, or who is recalling the 32-team group-of-four structure with its round of sixteen, arrives at this option.
- (b)2 only — This accepts the number of teams and rejects the hosting arrangement, but the three-nation hosting is correct. The United Bid of Canada, Mexico and the United States won the vote at the FIFA Congress in Moscow in June 2018, defeating Morocco. Joint hosting is not itself unprecedented — Japan and South Korea shared the 2002 tournament — but three hosts is, and 2026 is the first World Cup to be spread across three countries. A candidate might reject the statement by assuming a single host country in the United States, which is where most of the matches and the final will be played, but the tournament is formally a joint one.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — This rejects both statements, and neither is wrong. The three-nation hosting was settled by the FIFA Congress vote of June 2018 and the 48-team field by the FIFA Council decision of January 2017. This option is where a candidate lands who is confusing the men's tournament with another competition — the FIFA Women's World Cup, which expanded to 32 teams in 2023 and whose 2027 edition goes to Brazil, or the FIFA Club World Cup, which was itself expanded to 32 teams and staged in the United States in 2025. Note also that this item's stem is one of the two on this page to end with the 'Select the answer using the codes given below' line rather than a question mark, though the option ladder is the same in both.
Concept
The FIFA World Cup is held every four years, and 2026 marks the largest structural change in its modern history. The field expands from 32 teams to 48 by the FIFA Council's decision of January 2017; the format becomes twelve groups of four rather than eight, with the twelve winners, twelve runners-up and eight best third-placed teams going through to a round of thirty-two; and the number of matches rises from 64 to 104. Hosting passes for the first time to three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States — whose United Bid was chosen at the FIFA Congress in Moscow in June 2018 over a bid from Morocco. Two records follow from the arrangement: Mexico becomes the first nation to host or co-host three men's World Cups, after 1970 and 1986, and the United States hosts for a second time after 1994. The recent lineage of the tournament is worth carrying alongside — 2010 South Africa, the first in Africa; 2014 Brazil; 2018 Russia; 2022 Qatar, the first in the Arab world and the first played in November and December to avoid the summer heat, won by Argentina; 2026 the three-nation edition; and 2030, awarded to a bid spanning Morocco, Portugal and Spain with centenary matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, followed by 2034 in Saudi Arabia. The women's tournament runs on its own cycle and its own numbers, having expanded to 32 teams in 2023 for the edition in Australia and New Zealand.
Sports current affairs in these papers is asked at the level of who is hosting, how many are participating and who won, and it rewards a candidate who keeps a short calendar of the major events rather than following any sport closely. The two-statement form here is generous: both statements are prominent facts about the same tournament, and neither contains the kind of buried qualifier that makes such items dangerous. The one thing to guard against is a stale number, since the 32-team format ran for seven editions and is the figure most candidates absorbed first.
Key facts
- The 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup will be hosted jointly by Canada, Mexico and the United States — the first World Cup with three host nations.
- The United Bid of the three countries was chosen at the FIFA Congress in Moscow in June 2018, defeating a bid from Morocco.
- The field expands to 48 teams, following the FIFA Council's decision of January 2017; the previous format of 32 teams ran from 1998 to 2022.
- The 48 teams are drawn into twelve groups of four; the twelve group winners, twelve runners-up and eight best third-placed teams advance to a round of thirty-two.
- The tournament will comprise 104 matches, against 64 under the 32-team format.
- Most matches, including the final, are to be played in the United States.
- Mexico becomes the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times, after 1970 and 1986.
- The 2002 tournament, hosted jointly by Japan and South Korea, was the first with more than one host country.
- The FIFA Women's World Cup expanded to 32 teams for the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand.
Study next
Common traps
- Using the old figure of 32 teams, which held from 1998 to 2022.
- Assuming a single host country because most matches and the final are in the United States.
- Confusing the men's tournament's numbers with the women's, which expanded to 32 in 2023.
- Confusing the World Cup with the Club World Cup, which was also expanded and was staged in the United States in 2025.
Sports items are calendar items. Maintain a one-page list of the coming four years of major tournaments with their hosts and their formats, and update it when a governing body announces a change of size or structure. Where a format has recently changed, expect the question to be about the change.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
The number of matches to be played at the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup, under its expanded format, is :
- (a)64
- (b)80
- (c)104
- (d)128
Answer(c) 104
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which was the first FIFA Men's World Cup to be hosted jointly by more than one country ?
- (a)1994 in the United States
- (b)2002 in Japan and South Korea
- (c)2018 in Russia
- (d)2026 in Canada, Mexico and the United States
Answer(b) 2002 in Japan and South Korea