How many days until the World Cup?

What this countdown does

The men's FIFA World Cup is held every four years, which makes it the longest wait in the sport and the reason a countdown is worth having at all. This page tracks the opening date of the next tournament and rolls forward automatically once one finishes, so it never leaves you counting to a tournament that has already been played.

How to use it

1. Open the page — the countdown is already running from today.
2. Read the days remaining and the exact date.
3. Check the weeks-and-days breakdown and the weekday it falls on.
4. Use Share to send the live countdown to anyone.

When it's useful

Four years out it is mostly curiosity. Inside the final year it becomes practical: qualifying finishes, the draw is made, ticket sales open in phases, and anyone travelling has to think about flights and accommodation long before the group stage. The weeks-and-days breakdown is the more useful number once you are inside a year.

The tournaments this counts to

• 2026 — United States, Canada and Mexico. The first 48-team edition, opened on 11 June 2026.
• 2030 — Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three centenary matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay marking 100 years since the first tournament.
• 2034 — Saudi Arabia.

What happens on the way there

A World Cup cycle has a shape, and it is worth knowing where you are in it:

• Roughly three years out: qualifying begins in the six confederations and runs for most of the cycle.
• About six to twelve months out: qualifying ends and the final draw sorts the teams into groups.
• About six months out: ticket sales run in phases, usually by ballot rather than first-come.
• The final month: squads are named, and teams move to their base camps.
• The tournament itself: around a month from the opening match to the final.

Why every four years, and not three or five

The four-year cycle has been the pattern since 1930, interrupted only by the Second World War. It leaves room for continental tournaments in the years between and for a qualifying campaign long enough to include every member association. It also means the tournament and the Summer Olympics alternate, so there is a major global event most even-numbered years.

How the days are counted

The count is in whole calendar days from today to the date you pick, calculated in UTC so it never drifts with time zones or daylight saving. If the date has already passed, the count shows how many days ago it was.