The SSE Arena in Belfast will host ice hockey’s inaugural 3ICE World Cup next summer.
Belfast Giants head coach Adam Keefe will take charge of Great Britain with USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria also taking part in the two-day competition on 4 and 5 July.
Launched in 2022, 3ICE centres around the three-on-three format that ice hockey fans are accustomed to seeing when games go to overtime.
There are two eight-minute period of continuous play, with the clock stopping only for penalties and injuries. Squads are seven players strong with six skaters and one goaltender.
“It’s exciting for the city to get to host an event like this,” Keefe told BBC Sport NI.
“Three-on-three ice hockey is exciting and fast. You can see at the Belfast Giants, when it goes to overtime, it’s pretty exciting and nerve-wracking as a coach, but it’s something to get behind.
‘This format allows players to show a bit more skill’
Keefe, who has been at the helm at the Giants since 2017, says he has a “tough choice” when deciding who will make up his seven-strong panel for GB to make sure they are “right up there”.
He did, however, highlight some key traits he is looking for players to possess to cope with the demands of the faster-paced game.
“Speed is one of them, the ability to beat a player one-on-one, but you need players who can put the puck in the net too and we’re looking for a combination of those types of talent: speed, skill and sniper,” he explained.
“We have a lot of good players that are capable of participating and to play against the best countries in the world and represent their country is pretty cool.
“It’s a chance to show your skillset off, when it is five v five there are a lot of bodies out there, this format allows players to show a bit more skill and a bit more of their talent level.”
There is an expectation that, given its increasing popularity, three-on-three hockey will join the Winter Olympics from 2030, something Keefe is hopeful the success of the inaugural World Cup in Belfast can help make a reality.
The 23rd FIFA World Cup draws ever closer with organisers promising the largest global showcase of football ever.
With just six months until kickoff, many tournament milestones have already been reached: Forty-two of the 48-team teams have qualified, the competition draw is completed, two-million-plus tickets have been sold and the 16 cities – 11 in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada – have now been confirmed and are making final preparations to their stadiums and surrounding infrastructure.
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Now, Al Jazeera Sport lays out all to know in advance of the 2026 edition of the world’s marquee football tournament.
When and where is the FIFA World Cup 2026?
The tournament is being staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and will begin in Mexico City on June 11.
Due to the expansion of the tournament – from 32 teams to 48 – the 39-day event is the longest in its history.
Where will the FIFA World Cup 2026 final be held?
The US will stage the final, which will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
How will the FIFA World Cup 2026 game staging be split between the hosts?
The US will stage games in 11 places: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey/New York (joint host region), Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Canada will host 13 games in total, split between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also get 13 games, which will be played in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Which stadiums have still to be built?
All the stadiums for the World Cup are already in place, although two are having upgrades for the tournament.
The Boston Stadium, with a 63,815-capacity, is home to the NFL’s New England Patriots and the MLS’s New England Revolution, and is undergoing a $225m refurbishment.
Toronto Stadium in Canada is also having an upgrade, but on a much more modest level. The home to MLS side Toronto FC and the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts holds 44,315 spectators, and that is being expanded to more than 45,000 as part of its redevelopment.
Who are the defending FIFA World Cup champions?
Argentina won the last edition of the FIFA World Cup, beating France in the final of Qatar 2022.
With the game level at 3-3 after extra time, Argentina won the penalty shootout 4-2.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates with the trophy in front of fans after winning the World Cup final between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar [File: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]
Which teams are the favourites to win World Cup 2026?
Euro 2024 winners Spain are ranked first by FIFA before the tournament. Argentina, the reigning World Cup champions from Qatar 2022, are also considered a frontrunner for the title.
The FIFA World Cup 2018 winners – and 2022 runners-up – France, led by star striker Kylian Mbappe, are also a top contender for the crown.
Brazil, Portugal, England, Netherlands, Germany, Colombia, Croatia, Morocco and Mexico are in the second tier of strong contenders, based on their FIFA rankings from four to 15.
Highly talented nations, who also have a puncher’s chance of winning it all, if everything went their way, include Norway, Uruguay and Egypt.
Will Messi and Ronaldo play at the FIFA World Cup 2026?
Yes. Messi will lineup with Argentina in defence of their crown, while Ronaldo will play for UEFA Nations League champions, Portugal. At 38 and 40 years of age, respectively, it is widely expected that this will be the last World Cup that the iconic pair play at.
When will we know all the teams for the FIFA World Cup 2026?
Forty-two of the 48 teams have already qualified, with a series of options still available for the final six teams.
FIFA’s intercontinental playoffs will be the absolute last chance saloon for nations to reach next year’s event. The finale of that route will be on March 31, 2026, less than three months before the World Cup kicks off.
The European qualification process runs until March, but most of the remaining confederations will have finished their continental qualification processes long before then.
What are the FIFA intercontinental playoffs?
Once the respective confederations finish their qualification process, FIFA offers two final spots to be contested by the best-placed team from each of the six continental routes that have not already qualified.
What will the format be for the FIFA World Cup 2026?
With the expansion to 48 teams, the World Cup will now feature 12 four-team groups. That will lead to a round of 32, an extra knockout round compared with previous editions.
Indeed, the tournament has doubled in size since it was staged in the US in 1994, when only 24 teams competed.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, second right, US President Donald Trump, second left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, during the draw for the 2026 World Cup [File: Jacquelyn Martin/AP]
What were the World Cup 2026 groups drawn on December 5?
The groups are mostly completed following the draw, but for the six final slots, although the potential teams that can fill those places are now also known:
Group A: Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, plus one of Denmark, Macedonia, Czech Republic or Ireland
Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, plus one of Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales or Bosnia
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D: USA, Australia, Paraguay, plus one of Turkiye, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo
Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curacao
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia, plus one of Ukraine, Sweden, Poland and Albania
Group G: Belgium, Iran, Egypt, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde
Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, plus one of Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname
Group J: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, Uzbekistan, plus one of DRC, Jamaica or New Caledonia
Group L: England, Croatia, Panama, Ghana
Can Trump move games at the FIFA World Cup 2026?
Trump has been quite clear and consistent on the staging of games within the US, saying he will move the games from any cities that he deems to be unsafe.
On September 26, when Trump was asked about games being moved, he warned, “Well, that’s an interesting question … but we’re going to make sure they’re safe. [Seattle and San Francisco are] run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing.”
Will the weather affect games at the FIFA World Cup 2026?
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup was staged in the US, and the heat and resulting thunderstorms proved to be a huge problem for the tournament.
Three stadiums – in Arlington, Atlanta, and Houston – have retractable roofs that are expected to be closed due to the summer heat, while Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.
What are the ticket ballot options for the FIFA World Cup 2026?
More than two million tickets have already been sold for the tournament, but the main ticket ballot only opens on Thursday.
It will give fans their first opportunity to buy tickets since the full match schedule was announced last week, following the draw for the group stages.
The ballet will open at 16:00 GMT on Thursday, on FIFA’s website, and will run until 13 January 2026. Thereafter, FIFA will run a lottery to decide which applications are successful.
What are the exact pathways for the six remaining FIFA World Cup 2026 slots?
Intercontinental playoffs: Six teams will take part in the playoffs in Mexico in March, with two qualifying.
Seeded teams Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will receive byes to play in the two playoff finals, awaiting the winners from the semifinals.
Semifinal 1: New Caledonia vs Jamaica
Final 1: DRC vs New Caledonia or Jamaica
Semifinal 2: Bolivia vs Suriname
Final 2: Iraq vs Bolivia or Suriname
Europe: UEFA’s playoff competition, also taking place in March, will feature 16 teams, who need to win their semifinal and final to become one of four to qualify.
The draw is as follows:
Path A
Semifinal 1: Italy vs Northern Ireland
Semifinal 2: Wales vs Bosnia-Herzegovina
Final 1: Winner of Wales vs Bosnia-Herzegovina at home vs Italy or Northern Ireland
Path B
Semifinal 3: Ukraine vs Sweden
Semifinal 4: Poland vs Albania
Final 2: Winner of Ukraine vs Sweden at home vs Poland or Albania
Path C
Semifinal 5: Turkiye vs Romania
Semifinal 6: Slovakia vs Kosovo
Final 3: Winner of Slovakia vs Kosovo at home vs Turkiye vs Romania
Path D
Semifinal 7: Denmark vs North Macedonia
Semifinal 8: Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland
Final 4: Winner of Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland at home vs Denmark or North Macedonia
Which nation will top each group? 🧐@aramco | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/aPr4FD2mDB
Wales number eight Aaron Wainwright will boost Dragons’ bid to bounce back from an “unacceptable” opening European Challenge Cup defeat when hosting Lyon on Sunday.
The Rodney Parade club are still without a win in 2025 and last weekend were thrashed 41-17 by Perpignan, who have lost all 11 games in the Top 14 this season.
Dragons drew two home games in the first block of the United Rugby Championship (URC), but now hunt a first success since winning at Newcastle in the Challenge Cup last December.
Wainwright was rested for the trip to Perpignan after his autumn exertions with Wales and will return for Dragons on Sunday.
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Dragons have played 19 fixtures in 2025 and lost 17 of them, with chances blown for late home victories in draws against Sharks and Ospreys in the first block of the URC.
Tiatia has enjoyed just one victory since taking over from Dai Flanagan after the first block of 2024-25 and the pressure is mounting.
The head coach insisted an “honest review” had been held into the error-strewn display at a previously winless Perpignan, who need a miracle to avoid Top 14 relegation.
“The result wasn’t great and our performance wasn’t great,” said Tiatia. “As a group we know that it was unacceptable around some of the things we said we were going to do, but didn’t do.
“This is another exciting opportunity and we can’t have a day off when we perform in this jersey. Lyon is an opportunity to put some wrongs right.”
Dragons have a six-day turnaround from the Lyon fixture to a home URC game against Connacht that is followed by festive derbies at Cardiff and Scarlets at Rodney Parade.
“We are in the third week of a 10-week block and it’s an opportunity for us to make a turn,” said Tiatia.
“I am pretty positive around our preparation. It’s time to put a line in the sand, they have been sharp this week and we are looking forward to the game.”
Dragons’ issues at hooker worsened last weekend when Sam Scarfe, who was making his first professional start, went off with a head injury.
He is still going through return-to-play protocols while Elliot Dee and James Benjamin are out until the New Year and Oli Burrows and Brodie Coghlan are doubts for this weekend.
The Paris Saint-Germain team bus was pelted with stones outside the team hotel in Bilbao during the night after their Champions League game with Athletic.
The bus was parked and had no passengers at the time of the attack on Thursday morning.
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Media reports said two cracks were visible on the coach and two people were arrested.
The PSG players and staff were able to travel to the city’s airport for their Thursday morning flight back to Paris.
On Wednesday evening, European champions PSG drew 0-0 at Bilbao, a result which left PSG third in the 36-team qualifying league. Bilbao are 28th.
The French club are considering a complaint to UEFA, European football’s governing body, a source close to the club told AFP on Thursday.
Rayo Vallecano fans injured in Poland before Europa match
There was more violence surrounding a European fixture as three people were hospitalised after an attack on supporters of Rayo Vallecano travelling to Thursday’s Europa Conference League match at Jagiellonia in eastern Poland, local police announced.
Then, “around 50 people, some of them masked, emerged from the nearby forest. A confrontation ensued,” the Masovian regional police said on the social media platform, X.
“Thanks to the arrival of the police, escalation was avoided. On site, an ambulance team provided care to the injured, and three people were transported to hospital,” the police added, without specifying the injured parties’ nationality.
According to the police, two coach buses carrying the Spanish supporters were blocked by two passenger cars on an expressway near Ostrow Mazowiecka, in the east of the country, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
Police did not specify that the fans were supporters of the Madrid club, but local media reported they were travelling to see Rayo, who face Jagiellonia in nearby Bialystok, close to the Belarusian border, on Thursday.
The police say seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the incident.
Thousands of displaced people in Gaza are battling flooding which has swept through their tents and temporary shelters. Storm Byron brought torrential rain to the enclave, swamping camps in mud and vast pools of water. Tareq abu Azzoum sent this report from a camp in al-Mawasi.
Joe Pichler starred in a number of movies, but after being called back home by his family to finish his education, he went missing and has never been found
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Joe Pichler, who appeared in the Beethoven movie franchise, started acting when he was just six
In the sleepy suburbs of Bremerton, Washington, US, a Hollywood story became a real-life mystery that still haunts Tinseltown today.
On January 5, 2006, 18-year-old Joe Pichler went missing without a trace, leaving behind only questions and a cryptic message that has fuelled speculation for nearly two decades. He has never been found and his family remain both baffled and heartbroken.
As a child actor, Joe got his big in break in 1996, starring alongside Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes in hit thriller, The Fan. He went on to appear in films such as Varsity Blues alongside James Van Der Beek, and two of the Beethoven franchise sequels,
But by 2003, at his parents’ urging, he’d stepped back from Hollywood and returned home to graduate high school in Bremerton.
A couple of months before he vanished, seemingly into thin air, he had started a full-time job as a telephone technician at Tele-Tech. Money wasn’t an issue. When he turned 18, he had gained access to a trust fund, which enabled him to move into his own apartment. He remained a regular visitor to his family home, though.
Joe was said to have been dabbling with drugs and drinking recreationally, but was planning to move back to California to resume his acting career once his braces were removed.
He spent the evening of January 4, 2006, playing cards with pals, who like his family, said Joe seemed upbeat in the days leading up to his disappearance.
In the early hours of the following day, though, something changed. At 4.15am he placed what would become his last known phone call to a friend, sounding “inconsolable”. It marked the beginning of an unsettling sequence of events.
He had promised to call his friend back in an hour, but that didn’t happen.
Four days later, his silver 2005 Toyota Corolla was found parked near the intersection of Wheaton Way and Sheridan Road, not far from the Port Madison Narrows waterway. Inside the vehicle, police discovered his phone and some poetry, a two-page note that has since become the focal point of public fascination.
In it, Joe wrote of his desire to be a “stronger brother” and expressed wishes for some of his belongings to be given to his younger sibling. Investigators noted the odd tone and content of the writings.
Police believed Joe had taken his own life by jumping off a bridge into the Port Madison Narrows, but search dogs were unable to pick up a scent or any trace of him, for that matter.
However, his family did not characterise his writing as a suicide note, with his brother Matthew stating: “He left that note saying that he wanted to start over.”
Lead detective Robbie Davis commented that there was indication it “might” have been suicide, but emphasised that nothing was certain and that there was no known reason to suspect foul play. “There’s a good indication that it might have been a suicide, but we don’t know that,” he said.
The teen’s belongings, including his wallet and car keys, were missing, and his apartment was found unlocked with lights left on, which family members described as uncharacteristic. Despite extensive searches by police, volunteers and tracking dogs, no trace of Joe has ever been found.
His sister Shawna told The Kitsap Sun at the time:”‘He’s probably too embarrassed to come home. In the worst-case scenario, if anything, it’s foul play. But not suicide.” His brother Matthew was just as certain, adding: “He left that note saying that he wanted to start over.”
Joe’s mum, Kathy Pichler, has spoken about her son’s reaction to being called back home. “I just wanted him to have some normalcy in his life. He’s a good boy and took it well, but he wasn’t really happy about it,” she said.
“We always kept him really grounded. He’s always been a regular kid with a job a teenager wouldn’t normally have.”
Writing on the Surviving Parents Coalition – which supports families whose children have gone missing or been murdered – she criticised the police, claiming Joe’s case was handled “so poorly” and that “most of the evidence was lost”.
