FIFA on Saturday announced eight teams coming to Philadelphia for the five group-stage games at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday.
The full schedule with kickoff times is:
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
A look at the teams taking part:
Ivory Coast is back on the World Cup stage after two straight failures to qualify on the heels of three straight tournaments from 2006-14. For all their continental dominance, including three Africa Cup of Nations titles and nine top-three finishes, the Elephants have never escaped their World Cup group. Ivory Coast went 8-0-2 in qualifying, scraping by Gabon in its group. It is ranked 42nd by FIFA.
Ecuador finished a surprising second in CONMEBOL qualification, going 8-2-8 to fall behind only Argentina in the 10-team qualifying. La Tri is ranked 23rd in FIFA’s rankings. Once a traditional South American doormat, Ecuador has qualified for five of the last seven World Cups, though it’s only made it out of the group once (2006). It finished third in a group with Netherlands, Senegal and Qatar in 2022.
Curacao players and staff celebrate qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a game with Jamaica in Kingston on Nov. 18. (AP Photo/Collin Reid).
Curacao is the smallest nation ever by population to ever qualify for the World Cup, its population of 185,000 not even three full Lincoln Financial Fields. The Dutch constituent island, coached by legendary Dutch coach Dick Advocaat and captained by Premier League veteran Leandro Bacuna, is the third-lowest ranked confirmed country for the tournament at 82nd in the FIFA World Rankings.
Brazil is a five-time champion and seven-time finalist, though it hasn’t been the vintage Brazil of late. Le Selecao has only advanced past the quarterfinals once in the last five tournaments. More imminently, it finished just fifth in 10-team CONMEBOL qualification, going 8-6-4 in 18 games and turning to legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti in May. Since Oct. 2023, Brazil is just 10-7-8, including a quarterfinal exit in Copa America.
Haiti is in the World Cup for just the second time ever, having lost all three group stage games in 1974. Haiti had a brief resurgence by making the semifinals of the 2019 Gold Cup. Ranked 84th by FIFA, second-lowest among the 42 guaranteed squads, it finished second in Group C of CONCACAF qualifying behind Curacao.
France is a two-time champion, winning in 2018 and 1998. It made the final in 2006 and 2022, losing the latter in penalties to Argentina. Les Blues were unbeaten in their UEFA qualification group at 5-0-1 and are ranked third in the world by FIFA.
Croatia’s golden generation that led to the final in 2018 and third place in 2022 may be on the wane, but it remains a world power. Captain Luka Modric remains the squad’s leader at age 40. He could get his 200th cap, something only two men have ever done (and that Lionel Messi at 196 is on the verge of) in Philadelphia. Ranked 10th in the world, Croatia went 7-0-1 in UEFA qualifying.
Ghana has been among the most successful African nations, making the Round of 16 in 2006 and the quarterfinals in 2010. But it’s had to bounce back from failure to qualify in 2018 and group-stage exits in 2014 and 2022. The Black Stars went 8-1-1 in World Cup qualification to skate through with two matches to spare. It has fallen all the way to 72nd – between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia – in the FIFA rankings.
Iraq has made the World Cup once, in 1986, losing all three matches. Bolivia, which snuck into the inter-confederation tournament by beating Brazil in the final matchday of CONMEBOL qualifying to finish seventh, was last in the World Cup in 1994 when it was last in the United States. Suriname, formerly Dutch Guyana, has never qualified for the World Cup, but it has produced a slew of household names for the Dutch program (Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Georginio Wijnaldum, Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries) that were eligible to represent the country.
Iraq is ranked 58th, Bolivia 76th and Suriname 123rd in the rankings.
