From 11 June to 19 July 2026, the heart of world football beats in North America: for the first time in the tournament's history, three nations share hosting duties for the FIFA World Cup. The United States, Canada and Mexico are turning the entire continent into one giant football stage. With 48 teams, 104 matches and 39 tournament days, the 2026 World Cup will be the biggest and longest World Cup of all time – a mammoth event that sets new standards and ushers the game into a new era.
The host cities stretch across half a continent – from Vancouver in the north-west all the way down to Mexico City in the south. In the United States, the ball rolls in eleven cities, including New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City and San Francisco. Canada is represented by Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico contributes the metropolises of Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The legendary Estadio Azteca in Mexico City has the honour of staging the opening match, while the final will be played on 19 July 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, just outside New York. Nearly 4,000 kilometres separate the northernmost and southernmost venues – a logistical challenge the tournament has never faced before.
With the expansion to 48 nations, FIFA has rolled out an entirely new tournament format. The teams are split into twelve groups of four and play a total of 72 matches in the group stage. Alongside the group winners and runners-up, the eight best third-placed sides also advance to the knockout phase. This creates, for the first time, a Round of 32 featuring 32 teams – one more knockout round than in previous tournaments. The path to the trophy is now longer than ever: the eventual champion will have to win eight matches rather than the traditional seven. For fans, that means even more drama, more tension and significantly more live football than ever before.
Tony Popovic's Socceroos face Türkiye, co-hosts USA and Paraguay in Group D. The squad has set up its tournament headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, training at the Oakland Roots Sports Club facility on Bay Farm Island in Alameda, California – a deliberately West Coast choice that keeps all three group-stage venues within a short flight. The group fixtures take Australia up and down the entire west coast of North America: the opener against Türkiye in Vancouver on 13 June (14 June AEST), the second match against the United States in Seattle on 19 June, and a final group game against Paraguay at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium (Levi's Stadium) in Santa Clara on 25 June – effectively a home match, given the base camp sits just across the bay. Particularly noteworthy: this is Australia's seventh World Cup appearance and sixth in a row – a remarkable run for a nation that famously didn't qualify between 1974 and 2006. Popovic, himself part of the 2006 squad that ended that 32-year drought, has openly set the quarter-finals as his target – a milestone the Socceroos have never reached, despite their fairytale Round of 16 run at Qatar 2022 under captain Mat Ryan.
The tournament's geographic spread across four North American time zones might sound daunting on paper, but for fans back in Australia it actually plays out as one of the most viewer-friendly World Cups in recent memory. Depending on the venue, the time difference between Australia's east coast and the host cities ranges from 14 to 17 hours – which, because the host nations sit well behind AEST, means almost no late-night kick-offs at all. Matches in Mexico City and on the US East Coast typically land between the small hours of the morning and lunchtime AEST, while West Coast and Vancouver fixtures – including all three Socceroos group games – conveniently arrive between mid-morning and mid-afternoon AEST. Never before has a World Cup served up such a generous spread of viewing windows for the Australian audience.
The variety of kick-off times still calls for a bit of planning. Matches in Mexico City and at US East Coast venues generally hit Australian screens between roughly 3am and noon AEST – right across the morning routine. Games in the middle US time zones – Dallas, Houston or Kansas City – tend to land between about 6am and midday AEST. The most viewer-friendly fixtures of all, including all three Socceroos group games, are the West Coast matches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver: these arrive between late morning and mid-afternoon AEST, making them ideal for a workplace radio stream or a backyard listen. Fans in Adelaide and Darwin (ACST, 30 minutes behind AEST) and Perth (AWST, two hours behind) get an even earlier slot in the day.
It's precisely this spread of kick-off times that makes the 2026 World Cup a tournament built for radio listeners. With so many matches landing during work hours in Australia, parking yourself in front of a television for 90 minutes isn't always realistic – but tuning in to a live radio stream certainly is. Audio coverage slips effortlessly into daily life: over breakfast, on the morning commute, in the car, at your desk through the headphones, or on a lunchtime walk. While many TV broadcasts are tied to fixed schedules and video streaming services demand a rock-solid internet connection, radio comes into its own with its flexibility, modest data usage and the emotional power of great commentary voices – with all the relevant Australian and international streams bundled into one place.
The 2026 World Cup is about much more than just football – it's also a meeting of three cultures. The three official mascots reflect the character of the host nations: Maple the Canadian moose, Zayu the Mexican jaguar and Clutch the American bald eagle. For the first time, the final will also feature a halftime show – inspired by the Super Bowl and headlined by Coldplay. Weather conditions vary dramatically: while Vancouver and Toronto enjoy mild summer temperatures, players and fans in Dallas, Houston and Monterrey will have to brace themselves for heat well above 35°C. High humidity in Miami and Mexico City's altitude of more than 2,200 metres above sea level add further sporting challenges on top.
Whether it's the opening ceremony at the Estadio Azteca, the Socceroos' group-stage matches or the big final in New York: with au.radio.net, you can follow the entire 2026 FIFA World Cup by audio – flexibly, and in top quality. Choose between full match commentary, score updates and behind-the-scenes shows built around the World Cup, and experience the biggest sporting event of the year entirely on your own schedule – whether you're listening over your morning coffee or catching a late-morning kick-off at your desk.
Listen to the matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup live via the radio web stream on au.radio.net and back your team along the road to the most coveted trophy in the world. Whether you're on the go with your smartphone, in the car or at home – you'll find match results and live radio broadcasts of selected fixtures all in one place. Live and free!
Countless radio stations around the world run reports, analysis and live commentary around the clock throughout the tournament. On our 2026 FIFA World Cup overview page, we bundle these streams together – so you can quickly find the right station in your language and won't miss a match, no matter what time zone you're in.
South Africa
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Qatar
South Korea
Australia
Morocco
Haiti
Paraguay
Sweden
Ivory Coast
Curaçao
Japan
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Cape Verde
Egypt
Austria
Iraq
Senegal
Algeria
Uzbekistan
Ghana
Croatia
DR Congo
Australia