The 2026 FIFA World Cup, kicking off June 11 and running through July 19, is getting the biggest structural overhaul the tournament has seen in decades. FIFA and the International Football Association Board have announced sweeping changes to the Laws of the Game, expanded the field to 48 teams, and signed Kraken as the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the event.
The rule changes: five seconds or else
Throw-ins and goal kicks will now operate under a five-second countdown. Injured players will be required to leave the field for medical assessment, and substitutions get a strict 10-second window to complete. Behavior penalties are also getting an upgrade, with FIFA targeting discriminatory actions more aggressively.
48 teams, 104 matches, and a format that changes everything
The tournament itself is scaling up significantly. The field expands from 32 teams to 48, organized into 12 groups of four. That translates to 104 total matches, up from the 64 that defined the previous format. The World Cup hasn’t changed its team count since 1998, when it jumped from 24 to 32.
