This story is part of our week-long editorial series on how major retailers, fashion conglomerates, beauty brands and CPG startups are leveraging this year’s biggest-ever FIFA World Cup to their advantage.The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on Thursday and will continue until July 19, with matches held in 16 cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The event is set to surpass previous viewership records, with an estimated 6 billion global tournament viewers and 1.5 billion predicted to watch the final, according to FIFA. Around a third of Americans plan to tune in, according to a May YouGov survey.
It has been more than 20 years since the U.S. hosted the World Cup back in 1994. Stateside, matches over the next few weeks are scheduled for Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area. Meanwhile, Canadian host cities include Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico will host matches in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
As one might expect, official FIFA World Cup broadcast advertising partnerships are prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of the beauty, wellness, fashion and CPG markets.
