2026 World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium in metropolitan New York

FIFA has selected MetLife Stadium in metropolitan New York City as the site for the 2026 World Cup final.

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The governing body of world football chose the venue over stadiums in Dallas and Los Angeles for soccer’s marquee match in its announcement on Sunday, The Athletic reported. The game will be played in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19, 2026.

The opening game of the 2026 World Cup will be held in Mexico City at Estadio Azteca on June 11, 2026. Toronto’s BMO Field and Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium will host Canada and the U.S.’s first matches a day later, according to the website.

Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium will host the third-place game, while AT&T Stadium in the Dallas area will host nine matches during the tournament, according to The Athletic.

Dallas and Atlanta will host semifinal matches.

Other cities hosting games will include Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco. Matches in Mexico will be played in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City. Toronto and Vancouver will be the venues for matches in Canada.

Atlanta will host five group stage matches, a Round of 32 match, a Round of 16 match and a semifinal game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, WSB-TV reported.

The U.S. team will play its opener at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 12, then will travel to Seattle’s Lumen Field, The Associated Press reported. The Americans will finish their group stage by returning to SoFi Stadium.

The 2026 tournament will feature 48 teams for the first time in history, an increase from the 16-team format that had been used since 1998, ESPN reported. When the United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994, there were 24 teams in the field, according to the cable sports outlet.

The revised tournament will consist of 12 four-nation groups, The Athletic reported. The top two teams in each group will advance through the knockout stages, along with the top eight third-place teams, The Athletic reported.

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