The second semi-final of the FIFA World Cup 2026 takes place on Wednesday 15 July 2026 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The winners of Quarter-Final 3 and Quarter-Final 4 meet for a place in the World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium four days later. It is the last of two matches that determine the two finalists of football’s greatest tournament.
What is the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final?
The semi-finals of the World Cup narrow the field from four teams to two and produce the matches that decide who plays in the Final. At the 2026 tournament, the first World Cup with 48 teams, any side reaching this stage will have already played seven matches across a month of competition, the most gruelling run to the Final in World Cup history.
The two semi-finals are played on consecutive evenings, with Semi-Final 1 in Arlington on Tuesday 14 July and Semi-Final 2 in Atlanta on Wednesday 15 July. The winners go through to the Final on Sunday 19 July. The losers meet in the third place play-off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Saturday 18 July. Extra time and a penalty shootout are used to settle the match if scores are level after 90 minutes.
Five substitutes are permitted during regulation plus one extra in extra time, and VAR, goal-line technology and semi-automated offside are all operational.
When is the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final?
The match kicks off at 15:00 Eastern Time on Wednesday 15 July 2026. That is 20:00 BST, 21:00 CEST across most of continental Europe, 12:00 on the US West Coast, 04:00 on Thursday 16 July in Tokyo and 05:00 in Sydney. Thirty-minute halves of extra time are added if required, followed by a shootout.
Where is the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final?
The match is being played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Opened in August 2017 at a cost of around 1.6 billion dollars, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the home of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and of Atlanta United in Major League Soccer, the club that set MLS attendance records during its early seasons. The venue is known for its retractable “petal” roof, the signature design feature that opens and closes like a camera aperture. World Cup capacity at the stadium is approximately 71,000, with a natural grass pitch installed for the tournament.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has previously hosted Super Bowl LIII in 2019, multiple College Football Playoff championship games and the Concacaf Gold Cup Final. It is hosting eight matches at the 2026 World Cup, including group-stage games, a Round of 32 tie, a Round of 16 match, a quarter-final and this semi-final. The stadium sits in downtown Atlanta, close to the Georgia World Congress Center and served by the Vine City and GWCC MARTA rail stations. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is around 15 minutes away.
Key Contenders
The two teams meeting in Atlanta will be confirmed by the quarter-finals on 10 and 11 July at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Before the draw takes shape, the likeliest candidates for a place in the last four remain reigning world champions Argentina, 2022 runners-up France, five-time winners Brazil, European champions Spain and 2014 champions Germany.
England travel to North America with one of their strongest squads in a generation and will be targeting a first World Cup Final appearance since 1966. Portugal, with a new generation taking over from the Cristiano Ronaldo era, Netherlands and Croatia are all capable of reaching the semi-finals based on recent form. Among the host nations, the United States carries home advantage and a young squad led by Christian Pulisic, while Mexico and Canada both hope to ride the co-hosting boost.
The four 2022 semi-finalists were Argentina, Croatia, France and Morocco. Morocco became the first African and first Arab nation to reach the last four and finished fourth after losing the play-off to Croatia.
How to Watch
Semi-Final 2 is available on free-to-air television in most major markets. In the United Kingdom the match is live on either BBC One or ITV1, the two broadcasters sharing knockout coverage between them, with simultaneous streaming on BBC iPlayer and ITVX. FOX carries the English-language broadcast in the United States alongside the Fox Sports app, while Telemundo and Peacock provide Spanish-language coverage. TSN and CTV share rights in Canada, with RDS on the French feed, and TelevisaUnivision and TV Azteca share the Mexican rights. Optus Sport streams every match in Australia and SBS has the free-to-air semi-final. TF1 and beIN Sports split French rights, ARD and ZDF alternate on the German broadcasts, Rai covers Italy, RTVE covers Spain, TV Globo leads in Brazil, TyC Sports and Telefe split Argentina, and beIN Sports has exclusive rights across the Middle East and North Africa.
History and Records
World Cup semi-finals have produced many of the tournament’s defining moments. The 1958 semi-final in Stockholm saw a 17-year-old Pele score a hat-trick as Brazil beat France 5-2, the youngest hat-trick in World Cup history. In 1970 the “Game of the Century” saw Italy beat West Germany 4-3 after extra time at the Estadio Azteca, with five of the seven goals coming in the added half-hour.
In 1990 England lost a semi-final to West Germany in Turin on penalties, after Chris Waddle hit the post and Stuart Pearce had his effort saved. The 2006 semi-final in Dortmund saw Italy beat hosts Germany with two goals in the final two minutes of extra time, and in 2014 Germany famously thrashed hosts Brazil 7-1 in Belo Horizonte, scoring four goals in six minutes and condemning Brazil to their worst ever World Cup defeat.
More recent editions have been tighter: Croatia beat England 2-1 after extra time in Moscow in 2018, Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 in Lusail in 2022 with Julian Alvarez scoring twice, and France saw off Morocco 2-0 in the same city to set up the Argentina v France Final. Morocco became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final.
Tickets and Attendance
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup semi-finals are allocated through FIFA.com, with On Location the exclusive provider of hospitality packages. The semi-finals were among the most heavily oversubscribed matches in the initial application phases in late 2025 and early 2026. Category 4 tickets reserved for residents of the three host nations started at 925 US dollars, with top Category 1 seats priced from approximately 3,015 dollars and full hospitality packages running into five figures. Any remaining inventory is released through FIFA’s controlled fan-to-fan resale platform as the tournament progresses.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final kick off?
The match kicks off at 15:00 Eastern Time on Wednesday 15 July 2026, which is 20:00 BST.
Where is the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final being held?
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United.
How can I watch the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi-Final?
BBC One or ITV1 in the UK, FOX and Telemundo in the United States, TSN and CTV in Canada, and free-to-air broadcasters across most of Europe, South America and Asia.
Who won the last World Cup semi-finals?
At Qatar 2022, Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 and France beat Morocco 2-0.
What happens if the match is a draw?
Thirty minutes of extra time are played, followed by a penalty shootout if still level.