Photography by Antoine Saillan
On February 19, Special Olympics, Special Olympics France, and Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup Paris 2026 The Local Organizing Committee welcomed more than 200 guests and partners to the historic Paris City Hall to announce the 24 teams selected to compete in the Cup.
This is the third edition of the Cup and the first time it has been held outside the United States, after the first two editions were held in Chicago in 2018 and Detroit in 2022.
The Unified FIFA World Cup, divided into two sections (men’s and women’s) with 12 teams each, will take place from July 5 to 11 in Paris where they will compete for the chance to be crowned champions.
Announcing the teams is the first step in determining the field of competition for the two divisions.
For men, host France was chosen first, followed by Bharat (India), Brazil, China, Ecuador, Israel, Jamaica, Libya, Paraguay, Senegal, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
Likewise for women, France was chosen first, followed by Azerbaijan, Canada, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Namibia, Slovakia, Thailand, and the United States of America.
Photography by Antoine Saillan
Draw party
The next step on the road to the cup is the draw ceremony on April 16 at the French Football Federation headquarters in Paris, where the group stage matches for the men’s and women’s divisions will be decided.
With the tournament featuring 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams, and a champion crowned in each division, there will be two draws on the 16th day to determine the quarter-final group stage ties in both tournaments.
To kick off the ceremony, Special Olympics host country France will be drawn first and placed in Group A. The draw was organized to ensure that each group reflects representation from multiple continental regions. This process will then be repeated for Groups B, C and D in the men’s and women’s competitions.
Unified FIFA World Cup
The opening (July 5) and closing (July 11) ceremonies of the cup will be held at Charleti Stadium where the finals will also be held. No cup matches will be played on 9 July to allow for a rest day between days of competition.
Competition venues include Stade Charléty, Stade PUC, Stade Dalmasso, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (CIUP), and West Stadium (CIUP).
Photography by Antoine Saillan
Other events hosted alongside the Unified Sports World Cup are the Unified Sports Trials, Youth Athlete Programs, Unified Celebrity Match, Unified Athletes (hosted at Salle Pierre Charly, Charlet), the Community Torch Run, and the Special Olympics International Board of Directors Meeting.
The legacy of the first two Unified World Cups has helped Special Olympics develop plans for the sport that are now being used to deliver other global individual sporting events, most recently the Unified Volleyball World Cup Poland 2025 and the Unified World Cup 3×3 Basketball San Juan 2025.
Individual sporting events serve as a critical catalyst for sport development by helping to dispel stereotypes and implicit limitations of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities on and off the field.
It also supports the growth of individual sports with the assistance of international and national sports federations, which directly increases the depth and understanding of the sport within the international sporting community while engaging new populations to learn, experience and enjoy the sport through the assistance of Special Olympics athletes.
The goal of the Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup is to harness the power of sport to leave a lasting legacy of inclusion that impacts people with and without intellectual disabilities for generations to come.
