World Cup expands to 48 teams, setting attendance records

The expanded World Cup has already made a sharp case against the idea that more teams must mean less drama. Japan’s 4-0 win over Tunisia in Monterrey marked the 1,000th match in World Cup history, and all four debutants, Cabo Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan, scored their first-ever goals on the sport’s biggest stage.

That matters because this is the first men’s World Cup built around 48 teams, 12 groups of four and 104 fixtures across Canada, Mexico and the United States. FIFA has pitched the format as the largest and most inclusive World Cup in history, and the early evidence has not been a parade of mismatches. Instead, the tournament has produced unexpected performances from first-timers and surprising results from some of the favorites, exactly the kind of tension that expansion was supposed to risk losing.

The scale is historic in another way. FIFA is projecting 6.5 million fans across the three host countries, a figure that would push well beyond the tournament’s all-time cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million, set in 1994. The opening match was staged in Mexico City on 11 June, and the final is scheduled for 19 July in New York/New Jersey, giving the event a monthlong footprint that now stretches far deeper into North American stadiums and cities than any previous edition.

The path to this point began on 7 September 2023, when qualification opened for the expanded tournament. FIFA confirmed final squad lists totaling 1,248 players representing 48 nations, a roster size that underscores how wide the competition has become. For a tournament often criticized when it broadens, the current edition has instead delivered a strong rebuttal: the field has not merely grown, it has become more unpredictable.

The broader test is still ahead. If the crowd totals keep climbing and the knockout rounds hold the same edge seen so far, the 2026 World Cup will be remembered not just for its size, but for proving that expansion can deepen the contest rather than dilute it.