Over the next five weeks and five days in the United States, Mexico and Canada, 104 matches will be played in the planet's most prestigious international team tournament, organised by the world game's governing body Fifa.
It will culminate in the final on 19 July at the 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium just outside New York City.
The 2026 tournament takes place against a backdrop of war between the US hosts and Iran, anger over refused visas, criticism over ticket prices, and cost of hotel rooms and travel to the stadiums.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have also warned that certain fans travelling to the tournament face serious risks from US immigration and customs officers as well as border guards.
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France among favourites
Beaten finalists in 2022 in Qatar, France's players are among the favourites to lift the trophy, along with the European champions Spain.
Defending champions Argentina, who have included 39-year-old Lionel Messi in their squad, will be contenders – along with Portugal, who go to the tournament with 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo as their chief striker.
"The Portuguese are quite pessimistic when it comes to the national team," said Tom Kundert, editor of Portuguese football website portugoal.net. "But there's a lot of optimism – more optimism than for past tournaments.
"Before it was Ronaldo and 10 others because he was so far ahead of everyone. Right now it's: '10 of us and Ronaldo', because there are so many players who are really at the top of their game and are, just from a football point of view, more important to Portugal than Ronaldo himself."
The Portuguese, who have never won the trophy, kick off their Group K campaign against Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 17 June in Houston.
Ten African teams
A DRC squad last appeared at the World Cup in 1974, when the country was known as Zaire.
Under French coach Sébastien Desabre, the DRC went through 10 games in the African qualifying competition and advanced to a four-team African playoff last November as one of the best runners-up.
In that tournament, they saw off continental powerhouses Cameroon and Nigeria to win a place at an inter-confederation playoff. In March, they beat Jamaica in the final to gain a place.
"I'm proud to be leading the squad to the World Cup," said Desabre, who took over the DRC squad in the autumn of 2022.
"It's also a huge responsibility because we have to put on a good show and present a positive image of the country. So the mindset is to approach this competition and show everything we've been able to achieve over these four years."
DRC are one of 10 African teams at the fest. The figure doubled with the expansion to 48 teams.
For the tournaments between 1998 and 2022, the World Cup was a 32-team event and Africa, with 54 associations affiliated to Fifa, had five places.
And then there were 48 ... how the World Cup has expanded since 1930
Disproportionate representation
During the same period, Europe – with 55 associations who were members of the world game's governing body – had 13 places.
In the 2026 extravaganza – the first to be held in three countries – there will be 16 European teams.
The Asian confederation will send nine, including debutants Jordan and Uzbekistan.
Concacaf, which covers teams in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean, will furnish the tournament with six sides, including newcomers Curaçao and the three hosts.
Six will come from the South American confederation Conmebol and New Zealand will be Oceania's representative.
"The football fever that you have in a country that qualifies for a World Cup is the biggest, most powerful promotional tool for football that you can have," said Fifa boss Gianni Infantino after his 48-team plan was adopted at a Fifa council meeting in Zurich in January 2017.
The new configuration will bring 12 groups of four teams who will play each other once. The top two from each pool will advance to a knockout round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.
From that stage, penalty shootouts come if the sides are level after 30 minutes of extra time.
The 2022 final ended in such fashion, as did the last World Cup final in the US in 1994.
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