Cool.
The 2026 World Cup soccer tournament is expanding by 24 games, and Houston is prepared to handle any added games.
FIFA voted Tuesday for a change in format to the 48-team event by adding games. The total of 104 matches is 40 more than were played in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with 32 teams. The 2026 tournament already had planned to increase the field to 48.
“Houston is flexible,” said Janis Burke, the CEO of the Harris County Houston Sports Authority.
Games will be played at NRG Stadium, but FIFA had not previously released information on how games would be divided among the 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Houston had been expecting to host as many as five or six matches in the previous format and could likely handle as many as eight.
“We welcome as many games as we can,” said Chris Canetti, president of the Houston World Cup committee. “We know nothing is guaranteed.”
The Houston organizers have a time window with NRG already under contract that would handle any potential games.
The extra games, which would come in the group stage, would be played within the tournament’s traditional June-July calendar.
See here for the background. There will now be 12 groups of four teams, up from the eight groups of four now, with a 32-team knockout tournament from there. All I can say is bring it on. I’m ready to go buy some tickets now.