Round of 32 · Match 73
2A vs 2B
12:00 PM PDT · SoFi Stadium · Los Angeles
2A vs 2B kicks off at 12:00 PM PDT on June 28, 2026 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The first knockout match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place at SoFi Stadium (70,240 capacity) in Los Angeles on June 28, 2026, with kickoff at 12:00 PM PDT (UTC-7).
This is the first knockout match of the entire tournament. Every team still playing has been alive for three weeks of group stage football; by the time the referee blows the final whistle today, one of those teams is gone. The Round of 32 is new to World Cup football, introduced with the 48-team format in 2026, and its opening fixture carries a particular weight. No one knows yet how a tournament knockout round opener sets the psychological tone. This is where that gets established.
SoFi Stadium is the successor to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where the 1994 World Cup final took place. Roberto Baggio stepped up for Italy’s deciding penalty at the Rose Bowl on July 17, 1994, and blazed it over the bar. Brazil became world champions. The Los Angeles area has hosted the defining image of World Cup failure alongside the defining image of World Cup triumph. SoFi Stadium sits 20 kilometres from that site in Inglewood, carrying that inheritance into a new building.
When is this match? A noon PDT kickoff means 8:00 PM BST in London, 9:00 PM CEST in Paris, 4:00 AM JST the following morning in Tokyo, 5:00 AM AEST in Sydney, 4:00 PM BRT in Sao Paulo, and 12:30 AM IST in Mumbai. European viewers get a summer prime-time start. Check Los Angeles time for local scheduling.
The crowds in this stadium will be different from the group stage crowds three weeks ago. Knockout football pulls neutrals off the fence. People who spent the group stage watching their own nation now have permission to pick a side, and Southern California’s enormous Latin American football community will not need much persuading. The first knockout match of 2026 opens here, in front of 70,000 people who have been waiting all tournament for football that actually costs something.
One team stays in the World Cup. The other flies home. That is the entire arithmetic of the round, established for the first time in this building on June 28.