It's time: Countdown clocks signal kickoff of men's FIFA World Cup 1 year away

Neil Davidson · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 10, 2025 1:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The one-year countdown to the 2026 World Cup starts Wednesday, with clocks to beryllium unveiled to people the juncture successful Toronto, Vancouver and Niagara Falls.

Toronto and Vancouver are World Cup big cities. Niagara Falls offers a world-class backdrop for a reminder that FIFA's expanded 48-team shot showcase is conscionable astir the corner.

There are much milestones to travel successful Canada, with a telephone for immoderate 7,000 volunteers to beryllium issued successful August, summons income starting successful September and the tourney gully successful December.

Adidas has yet to unveil the lucifer ball. Tournament mascots volition besides beryllium introduced. The tournament's authoritative poster volition articulation those of the 16 big cities.

And the World Cup trophy is scheduled to marque an quality successful Ottawa connected Canada Day.

The World Cup kicks disconnected June 11, 2026, with games successful Mexico City and Guadalajara. On June 12, the absorption switches to matches successful Toronto and Los Angeles.

The last is acceptable for July 19 astatine MetLife Stadium successful East Rutherford, N.J.

"It's 9 years truthful acold connected this project," said Peter Montopoli, main tourney serviceman for Canada. "This marathon is present astatine 1 twelvemonth out, turned into a sprint. I deliberation that's the portion we truly enjoy. For the radical who emotion to tally events, this is the portion that truly excites them. This is wherever each the magic happens successful the past year.

"So it's exciting. It's an breathtaking clip to beryllium moving the event, it's an breathtaking clip for FIFA and it's an breathtaking clip for our country."

WATCH: Jonathan David scores doubly arsenic Canada beats Ukraine:

Canada volition big 13 games

In all, determination volition beryllium 104 games, with 13 each successful Canada and Mexico and the remaining 78 successful the U.S. The past 7 editions of the tourney featured 32 teams and 64 games.

In summation to co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the U.S., Japan, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan person already qualified from Asia, on with New Zealand from Oceania and defending champion Argentina from South America (CONMEBOL).

It volition beryllium a archetypal World Cup quality for some Jordan and Uzbekistan.

On Wednesday, the 2 Canadian big cities volition besides merchandise day videos with histrion Will Arnett featured successful Toronto's and erstwhile Canada goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc successful Vancouver's.

Canadians volition beryllium capable to use for tickets 2 ways — done the FIFA lottery (assuming FIFA follows past practices) and via rank successful Canada Soccer's Canada Red program, which volition administer the summons allotment for Canada matches.

"There's antithetic ways to acquisition [tickets]," said Montopoli. "If you privation to get successful early, you spell successful the fall."

Montopoli said determination is nary connection yet connected summons pricing.

While the afloat lucifer docket won't beryllium known until the draw, Canada volition unfastened successful Toronto and past play its remaining radical games successful Vancouver. Toronto and Vancouver volition each big 5 opening-round matches positive a round-of-32 knockout match. Vancouver volition besides signifier a round-of-16 game.

Canada Soccer is revamping its existing Canada Red rank program, expanding it from the existent 3 tiers (the archetypal escaped and the different 2 astatine a outgo of $50 and $150 annually) to 7 levels (from escaped to $5,000 annually). Each tier provides entree to Canada Soccer's ticketing allotment lottery for games featuring the Canadian men — the higher the tier, the higher the chances of securing tickets.

FIFA traditionally reserves a information of each World Cup game's tickets for fans from the countries involved. This is Canada's method of distributing them. Canada Soccer besides utilized a Canada Red tiered attack for tickets for Canada's games astatine the 2022 World Cup successful Qatar.

Canada Soccer's summons pool

Each of the 7 Canada Red tiers volition beryllium allotted immoderate 14 percent of Canada Soccer's summons pool. But Canada Red members successful the apical tiers volition person the champion accidental to entree tickets arsenic they volition person entree to the archetypal gully and each consequent gully afterwards.

Canada Red, the caller mentation of which launches successful precocious July, "directly supports" the Canada Soccer Foundation, according to Canada Soccer.

While the timepiece counts down, the City of Toronto is inactive looking for funds to assistance wage for its extremity of the tournament, arguing that it is having to excavation deeper into its pouch due to the fact that the outgo of providing services related to nationalist transport, policing and hospitals, among others, has accrued to astir $40 cardinal successful full — reducing the provincial currency publication and adding to the city's bill.

The outgo of hosting six games successful Toronto has been pegged astatine $380 million, with the national authorities contributing $104 cardinal and Ontario, including services, $97 million. Toronto's tab is $178.7 cardinal (47 percent of the full cost).

A ringing of imperishable suites is nether operation astatine B.C. Place Stadium. BMO Field volition get an further 17,750 seats, bringing full capableness to astir 45,735 seats, with the northbound and southbound ends expanded.

Two of 4 caller video screens are present moving astatine BMO Field, which is besides getting caller suites.

FIFA volition instrumentality implicit the tourney stadiums 30 days earlier the archetypal crippled there, which would mean May 13 for Toronto and May 14 for Vancouver.

The tourney bureau successful Toronto, already up and running, volition person 82 full-time unit — it's presently astir 70 — with astir getting an aboriginal sensation of tourney enactment via the FIFA Club World Cup, which kicks disconnected aboriginal this period successful the U.S. The Vancouver bureau opens adjacent Tuesday up of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

"We cognize what we request to bash to execute," Montopoli said of tourney preparation. "So we consciousness precise comfy successful wherever we basal today. There's ever small nuances that tin happen, but arsenic of contiguous — 1 twelvemonth retired — we're precisely wherever we felt we needed to beryllium to presumption ourselves for success."