In an announcement on Sunday, FIFA, the world soccer governing body, revealed that the 2026 World Cup final will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The tournament, featuring 48 teams, is scheduled to conclude on July 19 and will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Canada will play host to 13 games, with 10 of them allocated to the group stage. Toronto and Vancouver will evenly split these matches. Similarly, Mexico will also host 13 games, including 10 during the group stage in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. The remaining matches will be spread across 11 cities in the United States.
Opening matches for the national teams of Toronto, Mexico City, and Los Angeles will kick off the tournament, though FIFA did not release specific kickoff times for the games.
MetLife Stadium, an open-air venue with a capacity of 82,500, previously hosted the Copa America Centenario final in 2016, where Chile emerged victorious over Lionel Messi’s Argentina. Despite the lack of kickoff times in FIFA’s announcement, the anticipation for this prestigious event is already building.
The World Cup’s opening match, set for June 11, will be hosted by Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, making Mexico the first nation to stage the World Cup for a third time. The tournament’s inaugural day will also feature a match in Guadalajara.
Mexico’s head coach, Jaime Lozano, acknowledged the pressure of playing in front of home fans but expressed excitement about being part of the opening game, considering it a special day for both him and the national team.
Mexico has previously hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, with memorable finals at Estadio Azteca, including Pele’s Brazil defeating Italy 4-1 in 1970 and Diego Maradona’s Argentina triumphing over West Germany 3-2 in 1986. Maradona’s iconic “Hand of God” goal and the “Goal of the Century” also occurred at the same venue during the 1986 quarter-finals against England.
The tournament marks Canada’s first time hosting a World Cup game, with their inaugural match scheduled for June 12 in Toronto. The United States will kick off their World Cup journey in Los Angeles at the home of the NFL’s Rams.
Each host nation will play the group stage matches within their borders, with the United States focusing on the West Coast for their initial games. The quarter-final round will shift entirely to the United States, with matches set to be held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, and Boston.
The unique format of the 2026 World Cup, featuring 104 matches instead of the traditional 64, including an additional knockout round due to the expansion to 48 teams, prompted FIFA to divide the venues into three regions – east, central, and west. Teams will operate out of a base camp in the same region as their games, given the diverse distances and climates across the 16 host cities.
