The grand finale of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to take place in New Jersey, within the stadium shared by the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets, as confirmed by FIFA on Sunday. This announcement was part of the detailed schedule release for the prestigious international football tournament.
For the first time, the World Cup will expand to include 48 teams, with the final match scheduled for July 19 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. This edition of the World Cup will be a tri-nation event, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Canada is slated to host a total of 13 matches, with Toronto and Vancouver each hosting five group stage matches. Mexico, similarly, will host 13 matches, with ten of these being group stage games across Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. The United States will host the remainder of the matches across eleven cities.
The tournament's opening games will see Toronto, Mexico City, and Los Angeles each hosting the first matches for their respective countries' teams.
The MetLife Stadium, an open-air venue inaugurated in 2010 with a seating capacity of 82,500, was the site of the Copa America Centenario final in 2016. That match saw Chile triumph over Argentina in a penalty shootout, denying Lionel Messi a major international trophy.
FIFA has yet to disclose the kickoff times for the tournament's matches.
The historic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City will have the honor of hosting the tournament's opening match on June 11, making Mexico the first country to host the World Cup three times. This opening day will also include a game in Guadalajara.
Jaime Lozano, Mexico's head coach, expressed the mixture of pressure and excitement of playing in front of home fans but highlighted the special nature of hosting the opening game.
Mexico previously hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, both times holding the finals at Estadio Azteca, where significant moments in World Cup history took place, including Pele's Brazil's victory in 1970 and Diego Maradona's iconic performances in 1986.
Canada will mark its World Cup hosting debut with a match in Toronto on June 12, while the United States will kick off its portion of the tournament in Los Angeles, featuring the NFL Rams' home stadium.
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