Miss Universe 2026 will be the 75th Miss Universe pageant, scheduled to be held at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 24 November 2026.
Fátima Bosch of Mexico will crown her successor at the end of the event.
Location Announcement
On 23 September 2025, the Miss Universe Organization announced that the 75th edition of the pageant will be held in the United States territory of Puerto Rico, marking its fourth hosting of the pageant, after 1972, 2001, and 2002. Jenniffer González-Colón, the governor of Puerto Rico, confirmed the selection and announced that her administration had agreed to allocate a total of in public funds to finance its hosting of the competition, which would be handled by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and Discover Puerto Rico.
Negotiations On 18 December, Willianette Robles Cancel, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, suspended its disbursements to Miss Universe and called for a meeting between their contingents to discuss "several pending issues and new requirements for holding the pageant". The suspension came after the pageant faced a number of issues, including irregularities in the outcome of the previous edition and the Mexican government launching an investigation on Miss Universe president Raúl Rocha on drugs, fuel, and arms trafficking charges. By March 2026, the contingents had reached an agreement to continue organizing the pageant in the territory. Among the conditions imposed by the Puerto Rican government in the agreement was for Rocha to withdraw his involvement in organizing the edition to "safeguard Puerto Rico's image". By April 2026, the Puerto Rican government completed its disbursements to Miss Universe.
Venues and schedule The organizers designated the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as the venue for the preliminary and final rounds of the pageant. On 22 July, the organizers announced the schedule for the contests, setting the national costume show for 21 November and the preliminary competition for the day after. The finals are set to take place on 24 November, hours before the finals of Miss International 2026; the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that this scheduling marks the first time the coronation shows of two Big Four beauty pageants are held within hours of each other.
Selection of participants Media publications have estimated that contestants from around 130 countries and territories are expected to compete in the edition. Among the delegates designated as of , five were appointed to compete as the runner-up in their national pageant, thirteen were chosen through a casting process, while five were selected to replace an original winner.
Multiple franchise holders have forgone holding a pageant for the edition. On 28 May 2026, Miss France withdrew from the Miss Universe Organization, citing the controversies surrounding the previous edition. As a result, the winner of their 2025 edition, Angélique Angarni-Filopon, will not proceed to Miss Universe. The following day, Miss Universe announced that it will directly organize the French qualifier pageant beginning with the 2026 edition. The license holders in Turks and Caicos Islands and Trinidad and Tobago are also not organizing pageants for this edition.
Franchise ownership dispute In September 2026, the JKN Global Group denied the validity of franchise agreements held with Miss Universe Eastern, a company owned by Thai businessman Nawat Itsaragrisil and holds six Southeast Asian franchises: Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. While the announcement nullified the eligibility of contestants under Miss Universe Eastern, Itsaragrisil maintained that the purported agreements were valid and their selected contestants will travel to Puerto Rico for the competition. As of , three disputed Itsaragrisil-owned franchises have selected delegates for the competition: Malaysia with Eunice Wong, Thailand with Tharina Botes, and Vietnam with Quỳnh Anh Nguyễn.
Replacements Xinying Zhu of China withdrew due to age restrictions and was replaced by Weiyi Chen, who was later replaced by Shiqi Wang for unknown reasons. Anara Esengeldieva of Kyrgyzstan was replaced by Medina Ermekova for unknown reasons. Eunike Lioe of Suriname was replaced by Maruschka Sahiboe due to a change in the license holder. Matôma Condé of Guinea was replaced by Justine Kamara after being sent to participate in Miss Cosmo 2026. Tamara Rogouski of Argentina withdrew for personal reasons and was replaced by her first runner-up, Daiana Pereyra.
Debuts, returns and withdrawals This edition will mark the debuts of the Collectivity of Saint Martin, Malawi, the Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. Returning countries for this edition included Jordan, which last competed in 1960; Tunisia in 1971; Réunion in 1986; Ethiopia in 2017; Sierra Leone in 2019; Albania, Cameroon, Germany, Iceland, Jamaica, Kenya, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, and Suriname in 2024.
Did not compete Zoulahatou Amadou of Niger withdrew. Thandi Chisi of Malawi withdrew due to financial and organizational issues. Austria, which had planned to return, did not participate following the death of Miss Austria 2024, Lucija Sisić.
Pageant Broadcast The pageant will be broadcast in part or whole on Telemundo, Roku, and TV Azteca.
Contestants
The confirmed contestants are as follows: Country/TerritoryContestant AgeHometown Albania 24 Shkodër Angola 23 Cuanza Norte Argentina 28 Posadas Armenia 33 Tehran Aruba 24 Oranjestad Australia 28 Brisbane Bahamas 24 Exuma Belarus 22 Minsk Belize 24 Belize City Bolivia 23 Oruro Bonaire 24 Antriol Botswana 26 Gaborone Brazil 26 Curitiba British Virgin Islands – Saint Thomas Bulgaria 33 Sofia Cambodia 19 Phnom Penh Cameroon 30 Douala Canada 28 Ancaster 27 São Vicente Cayman Islands 20 West Bay Chile 25 Viña del Mar China 25 Shanghai Costa Rica 24 Alajuela Croatia 24 Zagreb Cuba 25 Doral Curaçao 28 Amerikanenkamp Czech Republic 22 Břeclav Democratic Republic of the Congo 28 Kinshasa 27 Copenhagen Dominican Republic 28 La Vega Ecuador 21 Guayaquil Egypt 31 Cairo El Salvador 27 San Salvador Equatorial Guinea 24 Evinayong Estonia 20 Pärnu Ethiopia 24 – Finland 30 Pori Germany 25 Rockenberg Ghana 33 Accra Great Britain 25 Douglas Greece 25 Mytilene Guadeloupe 31 Terre-de-Haut Guatemala 30 Sacatepéquez 29 Nancy Haiti – Syracuse Honduras 26 San Francisco de Yojoa 27 Hong Kong Hungary 25 Dunaújváros Iceland 27 Garðabær India 19 Mavelikkara Ireland 22 Castletroy Israel 25 Herzliya Italy 37 Monza Jamaica 25 Portland Japan 26 Fukuoka – Amman Kazakhstan 22 Shymkent Kenya 27 Nyanza Kosovo 21 Toronto Kyrgyzstan 18 Bishkek Latvia 31 Riga Lebanon 22 Maamariyeh MalaysiaIn September 2026, JKN Global Group disputed the franchise rights held by Miss Universe Eastern and declared delegates from six Southeast Asian nations ineligible. These include national franchises on Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, franchise owner Nawat Itsaragrisil rejected the notice as legally invalid and proceeded with sending delegates from all six countries. 37 Johor Bahru Maldives 18 Malé Malta 26 St. Paul's Bay 29 Lamentin 33 Tsingoni Mexico 28 Zapopan Mongolia 30 Ulaanbaatar Montenegro 22 Tuzi Myanmar 31 Hpa-an Namibia 27 Windhoek Nepal 24 Siddharthanagar Netherlands 26 Winsum New Zealand 24 Christchurch Nicaragua 27 Kukra Hill Nigeria – Lagos Norway 29 Eiker Pakistan 28 Lahore Panama 20 Chiriquí 25 Asunción Peru 27 Ica Philippines 24 San Juan Portugal 26 Gaia Puerto Rico 27 San Sebastián 24 Likouala Saint Lucia 33 Dennery Serbia 24 Dragovo 20 Bonthe Slovakia 25 Martin South Africa 23 KaNyamazane South Korea 35 Seoul Spain 28 Telde Sri Lanka 25 Colombo 33 Osdorp Switzerland – Geneva Tanzania 30 Mwanza Thailand 30 Phuket Trinidad and Tobago 36 San Juan 33 Sousse Turks and Caicos Islands 25 Providenciales 29 Budaka Ukraine 22 Kyiv United States 31 Arlington United States Virgin Islands 21 Saint Croix Uruguay 33 Young Venezuela 24 Chacao Vietnam 27 Hanoi Zambia 24 Livingstone Zimbabwe 34 Shurugwi
Upcoming pageants Country/Territory Date Colombia 10 October 2026 Singapore 13 October 2026 Romania 18 October 2026 October 2026
Notes
Footnotes
References
External links