FIFA releases Boston World Cup 2026 national teams and schedule for matches at Gillette Stadium – The Boston Globe

Saturday, June 13, 9 p.m.: Haiti vs. Scotland, Group C.

Tuesday, June 16, 6 p.m.: Norway vs. whoever emerges from the qualifying playoff tourney between Iraq, Bolivia, and Suriname, Group I.

Friday, June 19, 6 p.m.: Scotland vs. Morocco, Group C.

Tuesday, June 23, 4 p.m.: No. 5 England vs. Ghana, Group L.

Friday, June 26, 3 p.m.: Norway vs. No. 3 France, Group I.

The June 26 matchup will feature arguably the two top strikers in the world, Norway’s Erling Haaland and France’s Kylian Mbappe.

For a Round of 32 game Monday, June 29, the winner of Group E will play one of the third-place finishers from Groups A, B, C, D, or F. Should the US national team perform below expectations in a Group D it is favored by most to win, there is a chance it could play at Boston Stadium in that June 29 match.

A July 9 quarterfinal match will be played at 4 pm.

While Brazil is one of the teams that will not be playing at Gillette, local organizers are still pleased with how everything shook out, both from a high-caliber soccer perspective and seeing a robust group of international fans visit greater Boston and pump dollars into its economy.

“We got two highlight matches, which is amazing,” said Brian Bilello, Boston 26 board chair and president of the Revolution. “We’ve got France-Norway, where you wind up with two of the top five players in the world in Mbappe and Haaland playing against each other, that match is going to be a pretty special one.

“And the other top Pot 1 team is England, which is always a popular team and that should be a fun match against Ghana.”

For fifth-ranked Brazil not to play in Boston will come as a disappointment to many, especially in Framingham with its large Brazilian population. But Bilello, without elaborating, fueled widely available rumors that Brazil will play France in a friendly at Gillette on March 28.

“We know our Brazilian fans are going to be somewhat disappointed but hopefully we have a way of making them happy this spring with something else,” said Bilello.

Besides Brazil, the final draw eliminated these teams from visiting Boston: Group I’s Senegal, and Croatia and Panama from Group L.

There are 16 host cities, 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada.

Martha Sheridan, a Boston 26 honorary board member and president/CEO of Meet Boston, said she was “generally very pleased” with the draw results.

“We’re getting folks from Norway and England and France, who tend to travel well for their matches,” said Sheridan. “And I also love the fact that we have Morocco and Haiti, which from a local perspective is just lovely. The community can have some pride in their teams because we do have a considerably high Haitian (in Boston) and Moroccan population (in East Boston and Revere).”

With approximately 32,000 hotel rooms available in Boston, Sheridan does not expect any challenges in accommodating visitors.

One unknown is if fans from Haiti will be allowed to visit. Haiti is on a list of countries that the Trump administration has banned its citizens from traveling to the United States for terrorism and national security concerns.

“My hope is that the federal government is wanting to have a very successful World Cup here in the US, so maybe they will look differently at those bans in light of the fact that Haiti does have a team coming here,” said Sheridan.

FIFA spent Friday night and into Saturday morning figuring out the final pieces of the logistical puzzle of placing the 48 teams in those venues, balancing travel, time zones, recovery, and preparation factors.

The Revolution’s training center near Gillette will be used by national teams in the days before each match.

Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., will be paired with one team playing in Foxborough as a base camp for the duration of its tournament survival. Other Boston area locations may yet be announced. (FIFA controls the process.)

With Scotland and Norway each playing two matches in Boston, chances increase they will want to set up a base camp in the area.

“Now that we know who’s coming, the excitement is just going to continue to build,” said Sheridan. “It will be here before we know it and we cannot wait to welcome the world to Boston.”

Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.