Scott Clark
Feb 05, 2024 - 01:00

FIFA announces World Cup 2026 final venue

The 2026 World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey, with 16 cities hosting games.

FIFA has announced that the final of the 2026 World Cup will be held at MetLife Stadium in New York/New Jersey. The event is set to commence on June 11 at Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. During the announcement on live TV, there were also a number of famous celebrities present on the occasion, including comedian and actor Kevin Hart, rapper Drake, and celebrity Kim Kardashian, alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The New York bid held off a strong challenge from Dallas to secure the July 19 game, the culmination of the expanded 48-team tournament being co-hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Atlanta and Dallas are named for hosting the semi-finals, while the third-place game will be played in Miami. The quarter-final games will be taking place in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, and Boston.

A total of 16 cities across the three countries will host games with the bulk of the matches being held in the USA. The 1994 World Cup was also held in the United States, and the final took place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, near Los Angeles. New York hosted games at that tournament at the old Giants Stadium, which was later demolished to make way for MetLife, which opened in 2010.

The 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium, across the Hudson River from New York in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is the home of the NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets but has held a number of international football games, including the final of the 2016 Copa America tournament. The New York bid had lobbied hard on the city's experience at hosting major international events and its position as a global city with easy transportation connections for fans.

The expansion of the tournament to 48 teams from 32 means there will be an additional 24 matches, making up a total of 104 games across the 16 already chosen venues. The tournament will take the format of 12 groups of four teams with the top two going through along with the eight best third-placed teams. From there, the competition is a straight knock-out format with the finalists having to play eight games rather than the previous seven.

The 16 host cities for the tournament are: 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.