Co-hosting a World Cup is one thing. Actually benefiting from it is another. For the first time in the tournament’s history, three nations share home advantage at the 2026 edition, and with the draw delivering relatively kind group stage paths for all three, the pressure is now on USA, Canada, and Mexico to deliver. With Harry Kane among those attracting attention for the England top goalscorer odds heading into the summer, England’s own campaign will generate plenty of interest, but the host nation stories are worth following just as closely.
All three co-hosts were placed in pot one for December’s draw, a structural perk that put them alongside the tournament’s strongest sides and kept the most dangerous pot two teams out of their groups. With 48 nations competing for the first time, the group stage is more forgiving than it’s ever been. In this article, we assess how each host could use that to their advantage.
Mexico
Mexico open the tournament on 11 June at their home stadium in Mexico City against South Africa. It’s hard to overstate what that means for a squad used to playing in hostile atmospheres on the road. They’ll have a full house behind them for their opening match, and the same backing across further home games in Guadalajara and Monterrey.
South Korea are the team to watch in Group A. They were unbeaten in Asian qualifying, conceding just eight goals across 16 matches, and Son Heung-min remains one of the most dangerous forwards in the tournament. That said, Javier Aguirre’s side won both the Nations League and the Gold Cup in 2025, arriving in considerably better shape than Mexico sides of recent tournaments.
Canada
Switzerland are Canada’s toughest group stage test and won’t give much away. Bosnia-Herzegovina complete the group after beating Italy 4-1 on penalties in the play-off final, ending Italy’s hopes of ending a run of three consecutive World Cup absences.
What Canada do have in their favour is a fanbase that’s grown rapidly alongside the national team over the past few years. Playing in Toronto and Vancouver, in front of crowds that have never seen their country at a World Cup on home soil, creates a different kind of pressure for visiting sides. It’s not a guarantee of anything, but it’s not nothing either.
USA
Of the three hosts, the United States have drawn the most straightforward group on paper. Paraguay, Australia, and a European play-off qualifier in Group D represent a path the USA will back themselves to navigate, particularly having already beaten both Paraguay and Australia in recent friendlies.
They’ll also play across 11 host cities, from New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles to Dallas, Houston, and Seattle. Playing in front of packed home crowds across those venues, game after game, is a sustained advantage that travelling sides simply don’t have. You can track all the Football Odds as the group stage takes shape, but the cumulative effect of playing on home soil across multiple matches tends to be underestimated until it’s already made a difference.
With favourable draws and the expanded format reducing the margin for error in the group stage, all three hosts arrive in 2026 with a genuine opportunity. Whether they take it is another matter.