The 2026 World Cup will involve significant travel for players and staff, with the first 48-team tournament taking place across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, stretching between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
For players from MLS, including many on the U.S. men’s national team and the Canada men’s national team, those distances won’t come as a shock. The American top flight’s 30 clubs fly to nearly every match, with the longest journey featuring a 4,503-mile, six-hour flight between Vancouver and Miami.
It will shock many of the top players from around the world, though, given the rarity of lengthy travel in the top European leagues and even those clubs are challenged by longer journeys in continental competitions.
The travel demands, while minimized by FIFA’s scheduling of group-stage games and some knockout games in “clusters” of nearby cities, are a stark contrast to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where all stadiums were within driving distance of one another.
Previously, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and Russia’s 2018 tournament involved more average miles travelled between all teams, with 7,054 and 5,441, respectively. 2026 will feature 5,146 miles.
While all eyes will be on the July 19 final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, players will have widely differing distances in the knockout stages, hampering match preparation and potentially putting some at greater risk of injury.
World Cup Co-Hosts: How Far USMNT, Mexico, Canada Will Travel in Group Stage
| Nation | Miles to Travel | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1,930 | 2 |
| Canada | 2,084 | 1 |
| Mexico | 580 | 2 |
Data via ESPN.
Mexico will have the least demanding travel schedule of all co-hosts across its three group games, opening the tournament at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City against South Africa, before moving to the Akron Stadium near Guadalajara to face South Korea. El Tri’s group stage schedule wraps up against playoff winners Czechia back in Mexico City.
Canada, meanwhile, will only need one flight in the group stage, opening its tournament against one of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, before playing Qatar and Switzerland in Vancouver. Should Jesse Marsch’s side advance as group winners, it would remain in Vancouver through the round of 16 as well.
For the USMNT, the group stage will see two flights up the Pacific Coast, kicking off against Paraguay in Los Angeles, then facing Australia in Seattle before a group-stage finale with Türkiye back in L.A.
World Cup Favorites: How Far Argentina, France, Spain Will Travel in Group Stage
The top five-ranked teams in the FIFA World Rankings will take on travel unlike many players have seen before, given the proximity of clubs in Europe’s top leagues. Among elite teams, England will travel the most, with games on the outskirts of Dallas, Boston and New York City, closely followed by reigning European champions Spain, who play group-stage games in Atlanta and near Guadalajara.
Despite having the two-time defending MLS MVP in Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, likely his teammate Rodrigo De Paul and former Atlanta United star Thiago Almada, the 2022 World Cup champion Argentine will have the a minimal distance of 461 miles to travel, bouncing between Dallas and Kansas City.
France has been granted the most favorable schedule of the pre-tournament favorites, with just 334 miles to hurdle as they remain fixed on the East Coast. That minimal distance is probably best given Didier Deschamps has already been complaining about the security demands deployed in the U.S. During a series of March friendlies Stateside, the France manager moaned: “At our arrival, we spent an incredible amount of time at the airport, with checks that I’ve never seen in my life.”
How Far Every Team Will Travel at 2026 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
| Country | Miles to Travel |
|---|---|
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3,144 |
| Algeria | 2,972 |
| Czechia | 2,811 |
| South Africa | 2,440 |
| DR Congo | 2,270 |
| Ecuador | 2,011 |
| Canada | 2,084 |
| Belgium | 2,049 |
| USMNT | 1,930 |
| Austria | 1,898 |
| Colombia | 1,800 |
| England | 1,721 |
| Curacçao | 1,679 |
| Germany | 1,638 |
| Croatia | 1,558 |
| Türkiye | 1,533 |
| Cabo Verde | 1,533 |
| Uruguay | 1,510 |
| Spain | 1,469 |
| Uzbekistan | 1,453 |
| Jordan | 1,437 |
| Switzerland | 1,394 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,294 |
| Haiti | 1,262 |
| Scotland | 1,225 |
| Brazil | 1,094 |
| Morocco | 1,087 |
| New Zealand | 1,084 |
| Japan | 1,044 |
| Tunisia | 982 |
| Iran | 965 |
| Portugal | 960 |
| Qatar | 943 |
| Netherlands | 875 |
| Australia | 828 |
| Ghana | 679 |
| Cotê d’Ivoire | 678 |
| Sweden | 639 |
| Iraq | 590 |
| Mexico | 580 |
| Argentina | 461 |
| South Korea | 396 |
| Norway | 341 |
| Senegal | 336 |
| Panama | 336 |
| France | 334 |
| Paraguay | 309 |
| Egypt | 239 |
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Far Every Team Will Travel in 2026 World Cup Group Stage—Ranked.
