Find the full tournament timeline in the Schedules section of worldcup-2026.info— your go-to guide for every match date, kickoff slot, and stage-by-stage breakdown across the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
One hundred and four matches. Three countries. Sixteen stadiums. And fans watching from every corner of the planet.
The 2026 World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 — 39 days of football spread across North American cities that sit in up to four different US time zones alone. For international supporters, the local time zone schedule is not a minor detail. It is the difference between catching your team’s opener live and waking up to a final score.
This guide breaks down the local time zone schedule by region, explains how FIFA structured the kickoff windows, and gives you the key conversions you need before June 11.
Why the Local Time Zone Schedule Is Complicated in 2026
Previous World Cups had one host country. One clock. A relatively simple local time zone schedule that fans figured out quickly.
The 2026 tournament is different. The USA, Canada, and Mexico share hosting duties across 16 venues. Those venues span Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern time zones within North America alone. A noon kickoff in Los Angeles is a 3:00 PM kickoff in New York. A 10:00 PM game in Mexico City is midnight in Miami.
That complexity doubles when you factor in global audiences. Fans in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America are all working from a different local time zone schedule. A match that kicks off at 3:00 PM Eastern Time lands in completely different daylight hours depending on where you’re watching from.
FIFA was aware of this when building the schedule. The governing body deliberately placed high-profile fixtures in Eastern Time host cities — New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, and Toronto — to maximise prime-time viewing windows in Europe. A 3:00 PM ET kickoff in New Jersey is 8:00 PM in London and 9:00 PM across Central Europe. That is the sweet spot for global broadcasters.
The Local Time Zone Schedule by Region
Here is how the main kickoff slots convert across global regions. The 2026 World Cup uses four primary daily windows: noon ET, 3:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM ET, and 9:00–10:00 PM ET.
North America — Eastern Time (ET) The base clock for most official scheduling. Kickoffs run from noon to around 10:00 PM ET on busy group stage days. Up to four matches per day between June 13 and June 23. Up to six per day during the group stage finales from June 24 to June 27. The local time zone schedule for US fans gives the widest range of watchable slots — morning, afternoon, and evening depending on the host city.
North America — Pacific Time (PT) Subtract three hours from ET. A noon ET kickoff becomes 9:00 AM PT. The 10:00 PM ET late games become 7:00 PM PT — actually ideal evening viewing for West Coast fans. Games hosted in Los Angeles and Seattle naturally carry local start times that work well for Pacific Time audiences.
United Kingdom — BST (UTC+1) Add five hours to ET. The noon ET slot lands at 5:00 PM BST. The 3:00 PM ET slot hits 8:00 PM BST — prime time. The 6:00 PM ET window arrives at 11:00 PM BST. Late ET games (9:00–10:00 PM) push past 2:00 AM in the UK. The local time zone schedule for UK fans is genuinely comfortable for the first two daily slots and demands dedication for the later ones.
Central Europe — CEST (UTC+2) Add six hours to ET. The 3:00 PM ET prime slot becomes 9:00 PM CEST — the best evening kickoff for most European audiences. England vs Croatia at Dallas Stadium kicks off at 3:00 PM local time, which is exactly 10:00 PM CEST — a highlight of the European local time zone schedule.
South America — BRT (UTC-3) Add one hour to ET. A 3:00 PM ET kickoff is 4:00 PM in Brazil. Argentine and Brazilian fans get almost all group stage matches in comfortable afternoon or evening slots — a significant improvement over the 2022 World Cup’s morning kickoffs from Qatar.
India — IST (UTC+5:30) Add nine and a half hours to ET. The noon ET slot lands at 9:30 PM IST. The 3:00 PM ET window becomes 12:30 AM IST — technically the next calendar day. The local time zone schedule for Indian fans involves some late nights, but the most high-profile fixtures in East Coast US venues fall in the 12:30 AM–4:30 AM IST range — watchable for committed fans.
Australia — AEST (UTC+10) Add fourteen hours to ET. The noon ET match is 2:00 AM AEST the next morning. The 9:00 PM ET late game arrives at 11:00 AM AEST — actually a civilised morning watch. Australian fans will find the local time zone schedule flipped: late US games land in daytime AEST, while early US games require middle-of-the-night viewing.
Japan and South Korea — JST/KST (UTC+9) Add thirteen hours to ET. The noon ET game is 1:00 AM JST. The 9:00 PM ET window becomes 10:00 AM JST — morning football. Japan vs Tunisia at Monterrey — officially the 1,000th match in World Cup history — kicks off at midnight ET on June 20, which is 1:00 PM JST on June 21. That is a peak-viewing slot for Japanese fans in their local time zone schedule.
Key Matches and Their Local Time Zone Schedule Impact
A handful of fixtures stand out specifically because of how they land across global time zones:
Brazil vs Morocco — June 13, 6:00 PM ET, MetLife Stadium Landing at 11:00 PM BST, midnight CEST, 7:00 PM BRT, and 3:00 AM IST. Big in three continents simultaneously.
England vs Croatia — June 17, 3:00 PM local (CT) Dallas That translates to 9:00 PM ET, 2:00 AM BST, and 10:00 AM AEST. A late watch for UK fans but a morning highlight for Australians.
World Cup Final — July 19, 3:00 PM ET, MetLife Stadium The best-planned slot of all. Lands at 8:00 PM BST, 9:00 PM CEST, 4:00 PM BRT, 12:30 AM IST (July 20), and 5:00 AM AEST (July 20). Every major market gets a watchable window — which is exactly what FIFA designed.
How to Use the Local Time Zone Schedule Without Getting Confused
The simplest anchor point is UTC. All official FIFA times are listed in UTC on fifa.com. Converting from UTC to your own local time zone takes one calculation and works regardless of which North American city is hosting.
During summer in North America, the key offsets are:
- ET = UTC−4
- CT = UTC−5
- PT = UTC−7
Add your region’s UTC offset and you have your local time zone schedule instantly for any match.
For fans tracking multiple teams across different groups, setting calendar alerts in local time — not ET — prevents the most common mistake: showing up an hour late because daylight saving wasn’t accounted for.