About This Guide
Every four years, the world stops to watch the FIFA World Cup. Billions of fans follow along as their nations compete, celebrate, and occasionally suffer in ways that will define their sports memories for a generation.
This guide is designed for newcomers to the tournament โ people who may be watching for the first time, or for whom the World Cup has, for whatever reason, felt somewhat distant in recent years.
We cover everything you need to know: how teams qualify, how to find your country on the map, and how to watch, regardless of your viewing situation.
Where to Start
A note on scope: This guide focuses on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It does not cover the 2022 tournament, and certainly not in any detail that would be useful to nations whose qualifying campaigns ended in the autumn of 2021.