The 2026 FIFA World Cup has now hosted 66 matches, officially surpassing the entire 2022 Qatar World Cup’s total of 64 games. And here’s the thing: the tournament still has weeks of football left to play.
This isn’t just a quirky stat. It’s the direct result of FIFA’s decision to expand the tournament from 32 teams to 48, a structural overhaul that will ultimately produce 104 total fixtures across 39 days of competition. The 2022 edition in Qatar, by comparison, wrapped its entire tournament in 64 matches. The 2026 World Cup blew past that number before even reaching the knockout rounds’ deeper stages.
A bigger tournament by every measure
The 2026 World Cup kicked off on June 11 and is scheduled to run through July 19, spanning 16 venues across three host countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It’s the first World Cup ever held across three nations simultaneously, and the first to feature the expanded 48-team format.
The math is straightforward. More teams means more group stage matches. More group stage matches means the total fixture count balloons significantly. Going from 32 to 48 teams added 40 additional games to the tournament calendar.
