Soccer: Club World Cup serves as 2026 dry run amid heat and pitch concerns
A record 48 teams will descend on co-hosts United States, Canada and Mexico next year for the quadrennial spectacle, with 104 matches on the schedule, up from just 64 the last time the tournament was held in 2022 in Qatar. In anticipation, FIFA expanded the Club World Cup this year to more than four times its original size with 32 teams, in a format that mimicked what fans can expect next year.