The 2026 sports calendar’s biggest highlight is the World Cup organized by FIFA (International Football Federation), which will take place from June 11th to July 19th, in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Under a new format from this edition onwards, the competition will feature 48 teams competing, 16 more than in 2022, in Qatar, with the total number of matches increasing from 64 to 104.
The teams will be divided into 12 groups, with four teams each. The top two in each group will advance, plus the eight best third-placed teams, with the 32 teams now facing each other in knockout games.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazilian team is in Group C, with Morocco, Scotland and Haiti.
The group stage runs until June 27th, with the knockout games starting the next day. The round of 16 will be held from July 4th to 7th, with the quarterfinals from the 9th to 11th and the semifinals on the 14th and 15th.
The year 2026 will also be marked by the implementation of the new Brazilian football calendar, which, according to the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation), aims to reduce the game load of elite teams, and, at the same time, expand the opportunity in national competitions for teams that spent months inactive.
The state championships will be reduced, going from 16 dates in 2025 to 11 from this season onwards, with the period remaining from January 11th to March 8th.
The Brazilian Championship will be played throughout the year, from January 28th to December 2nd, with a break for the World Cup, following the straight points format.
The Copa do Brasil, in turn, will have a single game final, instead of round-trip games, with an increase from 92 to 126 clubs.
The Copa São Paulo dejuniores remains the tournament that opens the work in Brazilian football, scheduled to start on January 2nd. The final, as usual, will be on January 25th, the anniversary of the capital of São Paulo.
There will be 128 teams from all over Brazil competing for the cup, won in the last edition by São Paulo.
In tennis, the attention of Brazilian fans will continue to focus on João Fonseca’s performance on the court, with the Australian Open — the first Grand Slam of the year — scheduled to start on January 18th.
A few weeks later, the tennis player from Rio, currently number 24 in the world, must return to defend Brazil’s colors in the first round of the Davis Cup, against Canada, at the opponent’s home ground, between the 6th and 8th of February. Whoever passes will face the winner of the confrontation between France —Brazil’s tormentor in 2025— and Slovakia.
Afterwards, João returns to play at home, at the Rio Open, starting on February 14th.
Also in February, between the 6th and 22nd, the Winter Olympic Games take place, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, in Italy, with the Norwegian naturalized Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, from alpine skiing, being able to bring the country’s first medal in the history of the event.
The year also holds the Ultimate Championship, a new biannual competition from World Athletics (the international athletics federation) that will bring together the elite of world athletics, from September 11th to 13th, in Budapest, and the Judo World Cup, in Baku, from October 4th to 11th.
In the second semester there will also be the Swimming World Cup held in a short pool, from December 1st to 6th, in Beijing.
The Brazilian sports calendar ends once again with the São Silvestre Race, with athletes covering 15 km through the streets of the capital of São Paulo.
