A day after the Men's World Cup 2026 draw that determined all the groups and pathways to the final, FIFA finalized the venues and times for each of those matches.
Here’s how it will look for Seattle:
- June 15: Belgium vs. Egypt, noon
- June 19: USA vs. Australia, noon
- June 24: Qatar vs. UEFA Playoff A winner (Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina), noon
- June 26: Egypt vs. Iran, 8 PM
Seattle will also host a Round of 32 match that will feature the winner of Group G (Belgium, Egypt, Iran and New Zealand) vs. the third-place finisher from one of Groups A/E/H/I/J. That game will kick off at 1 PM on July 1.
Seattle’s final match will be a Round of 16 match that features the winner of the Round of 32 match against the winner of the match between the winner of Group D (which includes the United States) and a third-place team from Group B/E/F/I/J. That game will be played on July 6 at 5 PM.
There is currently a pause on ticket sales, but they will resume on Thursday, December 11.
What we know about the teams
We’re going to get a healthy dose of Group G in Seattle, with two group games and potentially both knockout games featuring these teams. Here’s what we know about the six teams who are confirmed to be playing here:
- United States: This will the first time we’ve hosted the USMNT since 2016, when they beat Ecuador in the Copa America Centenario quarterfinals. There’s a good chance that Cristian Roldan could be playing in that game and he had a breakout performance for the USMNT in a 2-1 win over Australia a couple of months ago.
- Australia: The Socceroos are currently ranked No. 26 in the FIFA rankings and have dropped three straight games, but that followed a seven-game winning streak. Over the past three years, they’ve been remarkably steady, having last dropped out of the Top 30 in 2022 but never climbing higher than 23 in that time. Their roster features a mix of players who play all around the world, including several in MLS.
- Belgium: After a third-place finish in 2018, expectations were high that the Red Devils could potentially win their first major trophy. Instead, they went out of the group in Qatar, one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. They are easily the most decorated team to be playing in Seattle and will likely bring a roster stocked with European stars.
- Egypt: Although the Pharoahs are one of the most accomplished teams in Africa, this is only their fourth World Cup appearance and second in the last eight. The roster is mostly made up players who play professionally in Egypt, with Mo Salah as one obvious exception. The Liverpool striker has 61 goals in 107 Egyptian caps.
- Iran: Team Melli doesn’t get a ton of accolades but they have consistently been one of the top teams in Asia for quite some time, have qualified for four straight World Cup and missed just two of the past eight. They will be looking to get out of the group stage for the first time, however. Like Egypt, the bulk of their roster is based domestically with a few notable standouts. The most notable is probably Mehdi Teremi who plays for Greece’s Olympiacos and has 56 goals in 101 caps.
- Qatar: After making their World Cup debut when they hosted the previous tournament and finished a disappointing 32nd of 32 teams, this marks the first time they’ve earned their spot through qualifying. That probably undersells the strides the team has made over the last decade or so, as they are the two-time reigning AFC Asian Cup winners and they also finished third as an invited team to the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup. Their roster is likely to be made up completely of players from the Qatari Stars League.
Most intriguing matches
Most of the attention is going to be on the USA hosting Australia and we’ll have plenty to say about that in the coming weeks and months, but each of these games has some appeal. Here are the two we think should be the most intriguing:
- Egypt vs. Iran: This will be the final group stage game for both teams, and will likely be a battle for second place if the other matches go according to plan. Both teams are looking to get out of the group for the first time in their history and will have some drama as it will be just the second time these two Middle Eastern power have faced off (and the previous meeting was in 2000). Notably, there are estimated to be more than 300,000 people of Iranian descent on the West Coast of North America, making it the largest concentration of the Persian diaspora.
- Round of 16: If both Belgium and the United States win their groups, they would meet in this match if they also advance out of the Round of 32. For the United States, it would be a chance to get to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002,
