The United States, Canada and Mexico, the three co-host nations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, are the only countries from North America that will represent the continent in the tournament.
They qualified automatically as host nations. The trio, alongside Curaçao, Haiti, and Panama, formed the North, Central American and Caribbean section countries that will feature at the tournament.
Sixteen stadiums across the three host nations have been selected to stage the 104 matches throughout the 39-day competition — the U.S. has 11 venues, three in Mexico and two in Canada.
Unlike Europe, South America and to some extent Africa, North America is not considered a football powerhouse, but the continent has achieved significant feats in the World Cup, including a bronze medal, however, not recently.
Considering home advantage, World Cup history, continental success, and their group-stage pairings, the United States, Canada, and Mexico have significant potential to reach at least the knockout stage.
The United States
The United States is hosting most World Cup fixtures, with 11 stadiums across the country designated to host matches during the tournament. The Yanks have not achieved significant success since the third-place finish in the first edition of the competition in 1930.
Since then, the United States’ furthest reach has been the quarterfinals at the South Korea-Japan tournament in 2002. Overall, the U.S. has played in seven World Cups since 1990 and has reached at least the knockout stage four times.
Nevertheless, the United States is not a team that can be cast aside as they can still go toe-to-toe with the countries in their group, namely Paraguay, Australia and Türkiye, and reach the round of 32.
In the last ten years, the United States has won the CONCACAF Gold Cup twice and also finished second runners-up twice. They have also won the CONCACAF Nations League three times, with the last coming in 2024.
Mexico
Alongside the United States, the two countries are by far the most successful teams in CONCACAF. Mexico has won the Gold Cup 13 times, most recently in 2025, and are also the defending champions of the Nations League.
Unlike the United States, Mexico have not recorded much success in the World Cup. Mexico’s highest achievement at the World Cup was reaching the quarterfinals in 1970 and 1986.
However, Mexico have a history of going past the group stage and has consistently done so since 1994, until the run ended at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the El Tricolour failed to reach the round of 16.
Being one of the host nations and with a recent history of reaching the knockout phase, fans are expecting Mexico to at least qualify from the group stage.
The Mexicans are in Group A of the tournament alongside South Africa, South Korea and Czechia.
Canada
Despite not being considered a competitive side, Canada has a chance of reaching at least the group stage of the World Cup, considering the Les Rouges are in Group B with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland, which is a considerably open group for any of the four teams to reach the knockout round.
Canada has only participated in two World Cup tournaments, but was eliminated in the group stage on both occasions. The country has enjoyed relative continental success, including winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup twice.
The Les Rouges will enjoy massive home support during the tournament as one of the co-host countries, and maybe they can finally make it into the knockout for the first time this time around.