England’s 2026 World Cup Schedule: Dates, UK Kick-Off Times & What Fans Need to Know
“England national team World Cup 2018” by Egghead06, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0); image from Wikimedia Commons.
60 years on from the country’s only World Cup win in 1966, England will head to Canada, Mexico and the United States as part of the first-ever edition to be hosted across three countries.
After finishing top of their qualifying group with 8 wins from 8 and conceding 0 goals, England now look to the summer ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will run from 11 June to 19 July 2026.
Following the 5th of December draw in Washington DC, England now know their group stage opponents, and when they will be playing them.
England’s Group L Fixture Dates, Opponents, Venues and UK Kick-Off Times
| Date | Opponent | Stadium | UK Kick-Off Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 17th June | Croatia | Dallas Stadium, Texas | 9pm |
| Tuesday 23rd June | Ghana | Boston Stadium, Massachusetts | 9pm |
| Saturday 27th June | Panama | NYNJ Stadium, New Jersey | 10pm |
How to Watch the World Cup in the UK
In the UK, every single game will be broadcast on free-to-air television.
The matches will be split between BBC and ITV. England’s games against Croatia and Panama will be on ITV, with the fixture against Ghana to be shown on BBC.
When Would England Play in the Knockouts?
Under new FIFA rules designed to “have a balanced distribution of the teams,” the top-four seeded nations (Argentina, Spain, France and England) will avoid facing each other until the semi-finals should they all top their groups.
- If England manage to top their group, their Round of 32 fixture would see them face a third-place team from one of groups E/H/I/J/K. This would be at the Atlanta Stadium on Wednesday 1 July at 5pm UK time kick-off.
- If England were to finish runners-up, they would play the runners-up of Group K. This would be a 12am kick-off at Toronto Stadium on Friday 3 July.
UK Viewing Experience
The time difference between the UK and North America could make for some unconventional kick-off times, with many World Cup fixtures set to take place at night.
To accommodate, the UK government recently announced plans to allow pubs to remain open until as late as 2am on home-nation match days.
Fan zones will also play a large role, with many bars and pop-up venues set to show the games.
Article by Zakaria Anani
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