Spain’s Group A matches against Cabo Verde on June 15 and against Saudi Arabia on June 21 headline the five group stage games that will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The 2010 champions, who feature superstar Lamine Yamal and who are coming off back-to-back Round of 16 exits, will face Cabo Verde at noon on June 15, the first match to be held in Atlanta. Cabo Verde (or Cape Verde) is in their first World Cup.
On June 21 at noon, Spain will take on Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, who beat eventual champions Argentina to open their group stage in 2026, are in their seventh tournament.
June 24’s offering at the Benz is an appealing matchup as Morocco faces Haiti. Morocco famously put together a shock run to the semifinal against France in 2022 before falling by a 2-0 score line. Haiti, meanwhile, sees at least one CONCACAF team headed to the Benz.
June 27 will bring another World Cup first-timer to the Benz. Uzbekistan, who rather unfortunately have been drawn into a group with Portugal and Colombia, will take on the winner of the FIFA play-off between DR Congo, Jamaica, and North Macedonia. The Reggae Boyz, a familiar CONCACAF foe to North American fans, are widely expected to emerge from that trio of teams.
Spain, of course, will be the main draw. The noon start times, while tough for Atlanta-based fans hoping to get a closer look at Yamal in his first World Cup, were clearly set to ensure Spanish audiences could watch overseas in primetime.
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Fans expecting to see Portugal and/or Brazil in the group stage were left disappointed. That said, Morocco, the darlings of the tournament in 2022, should make for an appealing storyline. But it comes at the expense of Brazil playing its matches in New York/New Jersey and Miami (probably expected) plus Philadelphia. As for Portugal, they’ll play in Miami and Houston, but there’s a vigorous case to be made for the latter city to have been replaced with Atlanta instead of sending Uzbekistan there.
Atlanta 2026 World Cup schedule: What World Cup games will be in Atlanta?
June 15
Spain vs. Cabo Verde (Group H), noon
June 18
South Africa vs. Denmark/Czech Republic/North Macedonia/Republic of Ireland (Group A), noon
June 21
Spain vs. Saudi Arabia (Group H), noon
June 24
Morocco vs. Haiti (Group C), 6pm
June 27
Uzbekistan vs. DR Congo/Jamaica/New Caledonia (Group K), 7:30pm
July 1
Round of 32 (Group L winner vs. Group E/H/I/J/K runner up)
July 7
Round of 16
July 15
Semifinal
Seeing the lineup of matches, I’m glad I didn’t pay FIFA the amounts they were demanding for tickets at MBS.
Simply awful KO times. Just awful.
I know FIFA decides this, but no USMNT in Atlanta?
US will play two games at SoFi in LA and one game at Lumen in Seattle for the group stage. Only way US plays in Atlanta will be to finish runner up in the group stage and make it to round of 16. If US wins their group, then US won’t even make East past the Mississippi River until they reach the finals at Metlife.
Didn’t the USMNT move their headquarters to Georgia, or am I mistaken? If they did, it is odd they likely have no games in Atlanta. Oh well.
Yup, I guess they decided having US play in LA during the summer is better than playing in Atlanta, which I think is kind of lame. At least US won’t have to travel too much. South Africa plays their first and third game in Mexico, but play their second game in Atlanta.