Sixteen host cities, three countries, 48 teams. There are many ways that the 2026 World Cup will be the biggest in history, and that brings unique logistics. The party kicks off on Thursday as Mexico hosts South Africa in Estadio Azteca -- Mexico City Stadium if you're following FIFA branding -- and that match will also immediately bring up one of the quirks of this tournament: the four time zones that the tournament will span.
With teams traveling during the group stage, there are also adjustments that they'll need to make to their routines during the tournament. It's one of the reasons why the United States set up base camp in Irvine, Calif., in order to minimize travel and adjustments during World Cup play. Most teams will stay in similar regions, but Canada will be the only host nation to play their games in different time zones, starting in Toronto for their opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina before playing their other group stage matches in Vancouver.
While technically the World Cup is only broken into three geographic regions, West, Central, and Eastern, the United States observes Daylight Saving Time, while Mexico stopped observing it in 2023, pushing its cities an hour behind their American counterparts.
For example, the opening match between Mexico and South Africa is happening at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. In Central Time, that would be 2 p.m., but in Mexico, which observes Central Standard Time, it's 1 p.m., and then 12 p.m. in our final observed timezone of Pacific Time.
Here's a breakdown of all the host cities and what time zones they observe:
Eastern Time Zone (UTC-4)
- Atlanta (USA)
- Boston (USA)
- Miami (USA)
- New York/New Jersey (USA)
- Philadelphia (USA)
- Toronto (CAN)
Central Time Zone (UTC-5)
- Dallas (USA)
- Houston (USA)
- Kansas City (USA)
Central Standard Time Zone (UTC-6)
- Guadalajara (MEX)
- Mexico City (MEX)
- Monterrey (MEX)
Pacific Time Zone (UTC-7)
- Los Angeles (USA)
- San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
- Seattle (USA)
- Vancouver (CAN)
