FIFA World Cup just 100 days from making its mark on British Columbia

BC’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport announced on Tuesday, March 3rd that the FIFA World Cup 2026 is just 100 days away from making its mark on Vancouver. 

For this year’s World Cup, a total of 104 matches will be played across 16 host cities in North America—Vancouver being one of two Canadian cities chosen to host matches. 

Vancouver will host seven of these matches at BC Place. These scheduled matches include five lower-stakes, group-stage matches and two high-stakes knockout rounds. 

These matches will take place between June 13th and July 7th, and will include two matches featuring Team Canada. 

First, on June 18th, Canada will take on Qatar, then Canada will face Switzerland on June 24th. Both of these are part of the group-stage matches. 

If Canada is able to progress to the knockout rounds, they may get to play once again at BC Place on June 2nd or June 7th. 

The Province predicts over 350,000 FIFA fans to pass through the doors of BC Place over the seven matches, with thousands more flocking to Vancouver to be near the action during the games and billions watching the games on TV. 

“When billions of viewers tune in and thousands visit, they will not only see world-class soccer,” said Anne Kang, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. 

“They will see a world-class destination with our mountains and coastlines, our vibrant cities and welcoming communities, our innovation and clean economy, and our cultural diversity and creativity.”

The Province predicts that hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026 will open doors to increased tourism visits. 

Specifically, the BC government predicts that approximately 5% of total tournament visitors—between 17,500 and 18,000 people—are projected to travel to other regions in BC, including Vancouver Island during the event period. 

Sadly, the exciting gold and bronze matches will not be taking place in Canada. The bronze match will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on July 18th and the battle for the World Cup itself will happen at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19th.