The United States will wrap up preparations for the 2026 World Cup with friendlies against Belgium, Portugal and Germany, the US Soccer Federation said Tuesday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side will launch the final phase of preparations for the tournament with a game against Belgium in Atlanta on March 28.
The team will remain in Georgia to play a friendly against Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Portugal on March 31, again at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The World Cup hosts will then play an as-yet-undetermined friendly in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 31 before wrapping up their World Cup warm-up schedule against four-time World Cup-winners Germany at Chicago’s Soldier Field on June 6.
“This is a massive opportunity to challenge ourselves against some of the top teams in the world,” US head coach Pochettino said in a statement. “These are incredible matches for the players and for the fans.”
Belgium, Portugal and Germany have all qualified for next year’s World Cup, which is being expanded to 48 teams and is being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The tournament kicks off on June 11, with the final taking place on July 19. The United States open their campaign in Los Angeles on June 12.
The US will learn the identities of their group phase opponents when the draw for the tournament takes place in Washington on Friday.
Meanwhile, the draw for the 2026 World Cup, the biggest edition of football’s global showpiece ever held, takes place in Washington on Friday with US President Donald Trump expected to feature prominently in proceedings.
The expanded 48-team tournament, up from the 32-nation field that competed at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, will be played across the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19 next year.
Trump’s attendance at the Kennedy Center ceremony underscores his rapport with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, who has made several visits to the White House and even joined Trump at international summits in the years since the joint North American bid was awarded the tournament in 2018.
Infantino’s close relationship with Trump is widely expected to see the US leader be named as the first recipient of a new FIFA Peace Prize, which will be awarded at the draw
Trump has made the World Cup a centerpiece event of both his second presidency and the 250th anniversary of US independence next year.
But he has not hesitated to bring domestic politics into the event, threatening to move World Cup matches from Democratic-run cities if he deems conditions to be “unsafe”.
