Dallas

<p>AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, sits between Dallas and Fort Worth in the heart of the American South, and it does nothing at small scale. Home of the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise, this retractable-roof colossus holds 80,000 spectators in its standard configuration — expandable to over 100,000 for special events — and hosts 9 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches, more than any other stadium in the tournament. For a fan trying to maximise the number of matches in a single city, there is no better base in the world than Dallas.</p><p>Those 9 matches break down across the full tournament arc: 5 group stage matches, 2 Round of 32 knockout games, 1 Round of 16, and a Semifinal on July 14 — just five days before the Final. Watching one of the four remaining teams in a tournament of 48 nations play for a place in the Final is a privilege that only two cities in North America will host, and Dallas is one of them.</p><p>The stadium itself is architecturally ambitious. The retractable roof allows the venue to be fully opened or closed within minutes, and the climate control system ensures that what is happening outside the building — and July in north Texas is genuinely dangerous, with heat indices regularly exceeding 110°F — has no bearing on conditions inside. One of the world's largest suspended video screens, 160 feet wide and 72 feet tall, dominates the interior and has become an iconic image of American stadium excess in the best possible sense.</p><p>The Fair Park fan zone, a 30-minute drive from the stadium, operates at 35,000-person daily capacity throughout the tournament. Beyond football, the Dallas-Fort Worth region offers Deep Ellum's renowned live music scene, the Fort Worth Stockyards' rodeo culture, world-class barbecue, and DFW International Airport — one of the best-connected hubs in the US for international arrivals.</p>