From left: FIFA Chief Tournament Officer Manolo Zubiri, Alexi Lalas, Ronaldo, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, host Andrés Cantor, Francesco Totti, and Hristo Stoichkov discuss the match schedule reveal for the 2026 World Cup in Washington on Saturday.Chris Carlson/The Associated Press
Twenty-four hours after learning who its World Cup group opponents would be – well, two-thirds of them anyway – Canada’s group-stage schedule was signed, sealed and delivered by FIFA on Saturday in Washington.
Alongside legends of the game such as Ronaldo – the Brazilian one – Francesco Totti and Hristo Stoichkov, and former U.S. national team defender turned Fox Sports commentator Alexi Lalas, FIFA president Gianni Infantino revealed the entire schedule for next summer’s 23rd World Cup.
Canada will open its campaign on June 12 at Toronto’s BMO Field with a 3 p.m. ET kickoff. That match will be against whichever European team comes out of playoff pathway A next March, which will see Italy and Northern Ireland vie for the right to meet the winner of Wales and Bosnia & Herzegovina to earn one of the final six World Cup berths up for grabs.
The possibilities for this opening match run the gamut for head coach Jesse Marsch and his team. Italy, the current world No. 12 and a four-time World Cup winner, would present the sternest of tests for Canada in its opener, and would attract a very pro-Italian crowd at what will be a 45,000-seat BMO Field, set to be called Toronto Stadium during the World Cup for advertising purposes.
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Wales, the world’s 32nd-ranked team, is an altogether different proposition, with Canada having beaten Craig Bellamy’s team only three months ago in Swansea. Northern Ireland and Bosnia & Herzegovina present arguably even more winnable games, with the teams currently 69th and 71st respectively in the rankings.
After the opener, Marsch’s team will head west to Vancouver, to meet the host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar, in its second match at B.C. Place on June 18. That match will kick off at 6 p.m. ET at the 54,500-seat stadium.
Qatar, the 51st-ranked team in world soccer, is in its second World Cup, having qualified for the first time ever out of the Asian Football Confederation (it received automatic entry as the host three years ago). Canadian players, and the team’s fans, are already looking at this game as a must-win if the team expects to advance out of the group stage, which will require a top-two finish or to be one of the eight-best third-place teams.
“If you want to get through, if you want to top the group, that’s probably a game that you’re going to need to win,” Canadian defender Alistair Johnston told TSN on Friday following the draw.
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Canada’s third and final group match will also be Vancouver, with a 3 p.m. ET kickoff against world No. 17 Switzerland at B.C. Place on June 24. If Canada can get a result against Qatar, then it would go into this game in control of its own destiny, no matter what happens in the opener against whichever European team Canada ends up facing.
From there, it’s a question of where Canada finishes in its group. If it tops Group B, it would stay in Vancouver, and play a round-of-32 game at B.C. Place on July 2, giving it more than a full week off between games. A win there would keep it in Vancouver to play a round-of-16 game there, which could well feature Portugal should Cristiano Ronaldo’s team win its group (Group K).
A second-place finish in Group B would send Canada to Los Angeles, to play at 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium on June 28, against the runner-up of Group A, which includes fellow co-host Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, and the winner of European Playoff Pathway D (Denmark, Czechia, Ireland, North Macedonia).
Meanwhile, a third-place finish would result in Canada travelling to either Boston for a match on June 28, or to Santa Clara, Calif., to contest a match on Canada Day. The game in Boston would be against the winner of Group E (where Germany is the seeded team), while the match in Santa Clara would be against the winner of Group D (where the United States is seeded).
Toronto 2026 World Cup group matches at Toronto Stadium:
June 12 – Canada v. UEFA Path A winner (Italy/Wales/Northern Ireland/Bosnia-Herzegovina), 3 p.m.
June 17 – Ghana v. Panama, 7 p.m.
June 20 – Germany v. Ivory Coast, 4 p.m.
June 23 – Croatia v. Panama, 7 p.m.
June 26 – Senegal v. International Pathway 2 winner (Bolivia/Suriname/Iraq), 3 p.m.
Vancouver 2026 World Cup group matches at B.C. Place:
June 13 – Australia v. UEFA Path C winner (Slovakia/Kosovo/Turkey/Romania), midnight
June 18 – Canada v Qatar, 6 p.m.
June 21 – New Zealand v Egypt, 9 p.m.
June 24 – Canada v Switzerland, 3 p.m.
June 26 – New Zealand v Belgium, 11 p.m.
All times ET
What's Canada's path to the World Cup?
On Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. ET, sports reporter Paul Attfield and columnist Cathal Kelly will answer reader questions on Canada’s path in the 2026 World Cup and how it could fare in the group matchups and beyond. Submit your questions in the form below, or by e-mailing audience@globeandmail.com with “World Cup” in the subject line.