Brazil and France headline the teams coming to Philadelphia for next year’s World Cup

Philadelphia will welcome two of the soccer world’s greatest powers, Brazil and France, for its slate of World Cup games next summer.

That became official Saturday afternoon when FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, announced the full schedule of dates, venues, and kickoff times for next summer’s tournament.

“When Philadelphia put forth its bid documents in 2017, two days after the NFL draft, the idea of us standing here and talking about Brazil and France coming to Philadelphia to play in the World Cup was a dream,” said Meg Kane, host city executive and CEO of the city’s World Cup organizing committee. “And now it’s an absolute reality.”

Brazil, whose five men’s World Cup titles are the most of any nation, will play Haiti on June 19. That will fill the city’s streets with a vibrant mix of the Seleçao’s famed yellow-and-green kits, and Haiti’s diaspora from across the United States and Canada.

“I had the opportunity to be in Qatar and to stay at the hotel with the Brazilian fans in 2022,” Kane said. “Since that moment, I have said that I wanted Brazil to come to Philadelphia, because I really felt that their fandom would match up so incredibly well with our own passionate fandom.”

It will also mean an unofficial home game for Union midfielder Danley Jean Jacques, who helped Les Grenadiers reach their first men’s World Cup since 1974. He’ll get to play against superstars including Vinícius Júnior and Estêvão, who coincidentally played at the Linc last summer in the Club World Cup.

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But that day will put Philadelphia in the middle of this World Cup’s political spotlight. Haiti is one of two teams in the field, along with Iran, whose citizens are currently banned from entering the United States because of political unrest in the tiny Caribbean nation. Anyone in an official delegation — players, coaches, team staff, etc. — will be fine, but whether fans will be able to travel here remains a huge question.

Haiti has not played a game on home soil since 2021, and manager Sébastien Migné has never set foot in the country. When asked about that at Friday’s group draw, he told reporters: “It depends on Mr. Trump.”

As President Donald Trump had just won the first edition of FIFA’s Peace Prize (with timing that perhaps wasn’t coincidental), Migné then offered a hope that “maybe he will continue with that [spirit], and he will open the possibility for the fans to come here.”

Kane acknowledged that federal immigration law is beyond her control, but she said her committee will be “intentional in welcoming every fan of every team” to town.

» READ MORE: The Union’s Danley Jean Jacques celebrates helping Haiti reach its first men’s World Cup since 1974

“We have a tradition of being welcoming — I think that’s something that has long been a tradition that Philadelphia has stood by,” she said. “Philadelphia Soccer 2026 [the local committee’s official name] will absolutely be prepared to welcome any and all fans from Haiti, or any and all fans from across the United States of Haitian descent, who want to come and celebrate their team coming back to the World Cup for the first time in a very long time.”

Jazelle Jones, Philadelphia’s city representative and director of special events, added: “The city is prepared. We are a welcoming city, we are a World Heritage City, and it is our absolute pleasure to welcome anyone, from any country anywhere, to come celebrate with us.”

France will play here on June 22 against the winner of the March intercontinental playoff bracket, which includes Bolivia, Suriname, and Iraq. That will bring one of the world’s absolute superstars, Kylian Mbappé, who led Les Bleus to the 2018 title and the 2022 final.

“The opportunity to have Kylian Mbappé playing in the World Cup in Philadelphia is extraordinary,” Kane said.

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France’s squad is among the most loaded in the tournament. Mbappé is joined by reigning world player of the year Ousmane Dembélé and a fleet of outstanding youngsters: Bradley Barcola, Rayan Cherki, Desiré Doué, Hugo Ekitike, Michael Olise, and Warren Zaïre-Emery.

Philadelphia’s slate begins on June 14 with Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador in Group E. Expect Ecuador to bring a huge crowd, all clad in the country’s yellow jerseys — and star players in midfielders Moisés Caicedo and Kendry Paez.

Ivory Coast’s squad, led by midfielder Franck Kessié (Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli) and forward Amad Diallo (England’s Manchester United), will play two games in Philadelphia.

Les Elephants’ second game here will be their group stage finale, June 25 vs. Curaçao — a Caribbean island making its World Cup debut.

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The Blue Wave’s history as a Dutch colony led the governing body to recruit dual nationals in recent years, and that paid off this year by topping Jamaica in their World Cup qualifying group.

This World Cup marked the first one where FIFA did not set games in venues at the time of the draw. That caused a lot of consternation around the world.

On Friday at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall, where the draw took place, The Inquirer overheard a FIFA staffer admit the truth about why that’s the case.

Before the draw, stadiums were assigned games in groups, but not specific matches. That meant any given matchup could be in one of two stadiums. FIFA’s decision not to set the venue at the moment of the draw meant it could move a matchup with less-popular teams to the smaller of the two stadiums available for it, and not worry about unsold tickets.

» READ MORE: The USMNT will play Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, Belgium, and Germany before the World Cup

Of course, there’s so much demand in the U.S. and worldwide that every game is expected to sell out. But a supposedly “lesser” game in a bigger stadium could give a chance to fans who don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars for tickets on FIFA’s in-house secondary market.

There’s a chance Philadelphia could benefit from that in Curaçao-Ivory Coast and the city’s last group game, Croatia vs. Ghana on June 27. Ivory Coast and Ghana will draw from the big West African community in West and Southwest Philadelphia, and Croatia has one of the world’s all-time midfield maestros in Luka Modrić. But the teams’ fan bases aren’t big enough to fill the Linc on their own, so the odds might improve for local fans to get tickets.

“FIFA controls all the ticketing and all the phases of ticketing — I recommend to everyone to enter every phase,” Kane said. “Anyone who wants an opportunity for tickets, make sure that you are on those lists and take every opportunity that you can to try to get a ticket.”

The Linc will have a week between its last group game and its tournament finale, a round of 16 contest on July 4. The round of 32 games that feed into that matchup include the winners of Group E and Group I, which means Philly could see France return to town to play Germany in one of Europe’s classics.

» READ MORE: FIFA admitted that the heat had a significant impact on this past summer's Club World Cup

Beyond the matchups, fans will also have an eye on kickoff times amid the hot summer weather. The city’s first two games will have nighttime starts, including a late one for Brazil-Haiti. But the remaining four will all have late-afternoon kickoffs, including a 5 p.m. start time on July 4.

“If you could have two powerhouses that are playing on July 4th, it would be quite spectacular,” Kane said, “and a great way for us to really lead into the Welcome America celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that evening.”

As for the U.S. team, fans will be staying up late for two of its three group games. The June 12 opener vs. Paraguay in suburban Los Angeles is a 9 p.m. ET kickoff on a Friday, and the June 25 group stage finale against a European playoff winner will be a brutal (at least for East Coast fans) 10 p.m. start on a Thursday.

The middle game, June 19 (also a Friday) against Australia, will be a 3 p.m. Eastern kickoff.

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Philadelphia has long known the U.S. won’t play here in the knockout rounds unless it finishes third in its group. Kane let her inner fan out when asked about that.

“We would like that to not happen,” she said with a laugh. “We’d like the U.S. men’s national team to finish first in their group.”

All games will be played at Lincoln Financial Field, which will be called Philadelphia Stadium during the tournament because FIFA bans the use of commercial sponsors’ names on stadiums during its senior World Cups.

June 14: E3. Ivory Coast vs. E4. Ecuador, 7 p.m.

June 19: C1. Brazil vs. C3. Haiti, 9 p.m.

June 22: I1. France vs. I3. Bolivia, Suriname, or Iraq (an intercontinental playoff), 5 p.m.

June 25: E2. Curaçao vs. E3. Ivory Coast, 4 p.m.

June 27: L2. Croatia vs. L3. Ghana, 5 p.m.

July 4: Round of 16 game, 5 p.m.