PHILADELPHIA — For three and a half years, since Philadelphia was confirmed as a host city for the 2026 World Cup in early 2022, the preparation has necessarily included blank spots. Some plans would go be prioritized no matter what nations would play in the city. Some would be tailored to those s pecific nations. On Saturday, the final piece clicked into place, with the city learning the identities of eight countries that will take part in the five group-stage games at the World Cup next summer. Brazil and France are among the headliners, Ivory Coast will play in Philadelphia twice and a varied swath of the field will stop in on Lincoln Financial Field, which will host five games in the group stages and a Round of 16 contest. Beyond the two seeded teams, which CEO of Philadelphia Soccer 2026 Meg Kane called “absolute home runs,” Philadelphia will also welcome Croatia, Ghana, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Haiti and a team to be determined by inter-confederation playoffs. “Brazil and France are going to travel,” Kane said Saturday, adding that the committee was “absolutely delighted” by the draw. “They’re going to bring thousands of people into Philadelphia, but I think these other teams are going to equally bring a level of excitement and enthusiasm that we’ve never seen.” The Philadelphia games are: • June 14: Ivory Coast-Ecuador, 7 p.m. (Match 9, Group E) • June 19: Brazil-Haiti, 9 p.m. (Match 29, Group C) • June 22: France vs. Bolivia/Suriname/Iraq, 4 (Match 42, Group I) • June 25: Curacao-Ivory Coast, 4 p.m. (Match 55, Group E) • June 27: Croatia-Ghana, 5 (Match 68, Group L) • July 4: Round of 16, Match 89, 5 between the winner of a Round of 32 game featuring the winner of Group E/and a third-place team against the Winner of Group I and a third-place team Teams were drawn into the 12 four-team groups on Friday at the official draw ceremony. Saturday’s announcement matched pairings to locations and kickoff times. FIFA’s event in Washington emphasized alignment based on time zones, climate zones and international broadcast slots. For all five group games, Philadelphia knew on Friday the two possibilities, which were selected by FIFA over the ensuing 24 hours. Philadelphia got two of the four possible teams in Pot 1, which included the hosts and top teams in the FIFA rankings, missing out on Germany and England. Germany could, if the seeds holds, be here in the Round of 16, with the winner of its Group E and France’s Group I needing to survive a Round of 32 clash with third-place teams. At the other end of the spectrum, Philadelphia will get three of the four lowest-ranked teams among the 42 confirmed, per FIFA’s world rankings (Ghana 72, Curacao 82, Haiti 84). It also got the highest ranked Pot 2 team in Croatia, which is 10th. The first two games are late kickoffs, but they’re followed by mostly afternoon affairs. That includes on July 4, when a 5 p.m. kickoff will flow into the rest of the events for America’s semiquincentennial celebrations. Kane’s goal is to be “complementary and not competitive” with other programming in the city that day, and she said that dialog with FIFA for historically significant cities involved in America’s 250th anniversary celebration reflected that. The arrival of Haiti to Philadelphia brings the city into geopolitical crosshairs. The country is one of two qualifiers (with Iran) among 12 listed in a June travel ban imposed by the Trump administration. Speaking only for the World Cup committee, Kane said that would not influence how the city welcomes Haitian or any other fans. “Our job is to be prepared to welcome every fan that wants to come to Philadelphia to be part of the World Cup, whether they are from Haiti, whether they are from France, whether they are from Curacao or any of the other teams that are coming here,” she said. “We are going to be intentional in welcoming every fan of every team to Philadelphia.” Philadelphia hosted eight games at the FIFA Club World Cup last year, including four that involved Brazilian clubs. The quarterfinal between Chelsea and Palmeiras drew 65,782 fans, fourth-most for a soccer game in the Linc’s history. It offers the local committee some fluency with what to expect from the Brazilian fans. “When we saw the group stages and the pots that were pulled yesterday, we saw that Brazil and Morocco were in Group C, and I think we all thought, oh my goodness, are we going to run it back like Club World Cup style?,” Kane said. “We have had experience with both of those fans. I think we loved Brazilian fans last year. We love their energy and enthusiasm, and the way that they just embraced the city was something that was so exciting.” Saturday’s schedule announcement tells that Philadelphia committee much more than just which teams are coming here. It informs where and how to focus outreach on nations and groups within the U.S. that are likely to be drawn here for the games and allows them to market the teams involved. It allows them to tailor experience and messaging to the kinds of visitors that might be coming, be they domestically or internationally, with specific focus on public transit or international travel into PHL Airport. It also allows them to target business and community groups that might be particularly activated by the teams here, and sets a direction for fan festival events appealing to both fans who are here and those who might just be in town to watch at the fan festival in Lemon Hill. “We just think this is going to be such an opportunity to see so many of our local communities and residents really shine,” Kane said, “to really enjoy this tournament in a way that I think is going to be so incredibly memorable for the entire city and the region.” ...read more read less