Last Friday, the seeding process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was complete after a lengthy draw ceremony. From there, FIFA officials had less than 24 hours to finalize the assignment of each match to one of sixteen host sites, and issue a start time. That process was completed and revealed on Saturday afternoon, resulting in the official match schedule for the next edition of the world’s biggest soccer tournament.
What was revealed is an unusual mix of start times that attempts to manage the competing interests of broadcasters around the globe, but does not always do so well.
From a broad perspective, the global football audiences can be divided into three categories: European and African nations (for which start times between 9 AM-3 PM ET are preferable), the Western Hemisphere (ideally 3 PM-9 PM), and east Asia and Oceania (for which matches at 9 PM or later are best). Of these three groups, it is evident that the European audiences are the most important, perhaps for good reason: in the seven World Cup tournaments since the U.S. last hosted in 1994, 20 of the 28 semifinalists have been UEFA nations.
The group stage matches, which are scattered across four time zones, are set for start times ranging from Noon ET all the way to a handful of Midnight ET starts for some games played on the West Coast. Of the 11 days of group stage action on which four games are scheduled, five days have 1 PM/4 PM/7 PM/10 PM kickoffs, three days start at 12 PM/3 PM/6 PM/9 PM, and three days use the 3 PM/6 PM/9 PM/Midnight schedule. It is not immediately clear why these starts could not have been standardized as they were in 2022, allowing fans to develop a rhythm to tuning in to the tournament. It would be understandable if the Midnight matches were reserved for Far East countries, but one of them is Jordan vs. Algeria, which will be played at 7 AM and 5 AM respectively in the competing nations.
If FIFA is willing to stretch the schedule to Midnight, why not set some weekend matches for 9 AM ET? Surely the earlier start would be welcome for European audiences, and American soccer fans are well-adjusted to early kickoffs on the weekend.
And as for the host nations, the times are inconsistent. The United States will play its opener at 9 PM on a Friday night, then 3 PM the next Friday afternoon, and then 10 PM the following Thursday. Canada’s group stage matches are set for 3 PM, 6 PM, and 3 PM, while Mexico gets the 3 PM tournament opener followed by two games at 9 PM (Most of Mexico utilizes the Mountain Time Zone in the summer).
Beyond the kickoff times themselves, the specific match location and assignments seem confusing at times. Consider, for example, the schedule for Friday, June 19, which features United States-Australia leading off the day at 3 PM ET in Seattle, Scotland-Morocco from Boston at 6 PM, Brazil-Haiti at 9 PM in Philadelphia, and Paraguay’s second match to cap off the night in Santa Clara. In a day that features a glut of Western-hemisphere teams, why is the only UEFA team playing at 6:00? And why is Philadelphia hosting a game at 9:00 local? Surely some simple shuffling could improve the schedule for all parties (Scotland-Morocco at 1 PM, Brazil-Haiti at 4 PM, USA-Australia at 7 PM).
The Knockout stage is really where the Euro-centric schedule takes off. Only three of the final 16 matches are set to kickoff after 5 PM, with two quarterfinals and both semifinals set for weekday afternoons. The Final will be played at 3 PM ET on Sunday, July 19 in New Jersey, a start time that had been reported for several months.
Yet-to-be-decided for U.S. audiences are network designations. English-language coverage of all 104 matches will be split between FOX and FS1, with 69 matches on the FOX broadcast network and 35 on FS1. Twelve of those 35 FS1 matches will be during the final games of the group stage — when FS1 will air a match simultaneously opposite a separate match on FOX — leaving 23 exclusive windows for the cable channel. FOX-affiliated stations can expect plenty of disruption to their schedules, a practice that has become commonplace for a network that regularly airs weekday international golf and 11 PM college football. All matches will also air on Fox One, the new DTC streaming product, with some matches available for free on Tubi.
For Spanish audiences, Universo and Telemundo will combine to air every match, with Spanish-language coverage simulcast on Peacock.
It becomes clear that FIFA is far less beholden to the interests of Fox than, for example, the IOC is to NBC, which on two occasions forced Olympic swimmers to race the most important finals of their lives at 9 AM so that Americans could watch live in primetime. (On the other hand, FIFA seemed to value the relationship with Fox enough to award the rights to the tournament on a no-bid contract, allegedly as a make-good for placing the 2022 event in the winter in Qatar.) If Friday’s draw procedure was any indication, next summer will once again be a tremendous showcase of the world’s most popular sport, but with competing interests around the world, the host broadcasters will have some difficulties maximizing their audiences.
