New York will host the final match of the 2026 World Cup Final, FIFA announced Sunday, as soccer fans await the tournament’s U.S. return more than two years from now.
New York and Dallas were among the rumored favorites for the final World Cup match.
The opening match of the tournament will be June 11, 2026, in Mexico City, Canada’s first match will be played on June 12, 2026, in Toronto, and the United States’ first match will be played June 12, 2026, in Los Angeles.
The bronze medal final will take place in Miami, and the semi-final games will take place in Atlanta and Dallas.
While the entire tournament will take place in 16 locations across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the quarterfinal games will take place in Kansas City, Missouri; Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.
Dallas will host nine matches, the largest number of games of any of the 16 cities.
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where both New York NFL teams play, and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys play, were rumored to be favorites.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited MetLife Stadium and AT&T Stadium last year to watch games at both of the stadiums.
All 11 U.S. stadiums that will be used in the 2026 tournament are used for NFL games, though many have to change aspects of the fields. AT&T and MetLife are among the handful of stadiums that will have to replace artificial turf with grass ahead of the soccer matches. Some stadiums will also have to change the size of their field to match FIFA’s 75-by-115 yard field requirement for World Cup games. The Associated Press reported last month MetLife Stadium planned to remove 1,740 seats to widen its field enough to meet FIFA’s requirements.
The more than 100 games will take place at 16 locations—Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Miami, Monterrey, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver. The last time the U.S. hosted World Cup games was in 1994. That year’s final was hosted at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California, where the UCLA Bruins play. Meanwhile, this is Canada’s first time hosting the World Cup and Mexico’s third time.
MetLife Stadium To Remove 1,740 Seats For 2026 World Cup, Officials Hoping To Host Final (Associated Press)
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