The 2026 World Cup final will be held in New Jersey at the home of the National Football League’s New York Giants and New York Jets, world soccer’s governing body FIFA announced on Sunday, along with the entire schedule for the global soccer showcase.
The 48-team World Cup, which will conclude on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Canada will host 13 games in total, including 10 in the group stage split evenly between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also get 13 games, including 10 during the group stage in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The rest of tournament will be held in 11 cities across the United States.
Toronto, Mexico City, and Los Angeles will host the opening matches of their respective national teams.
The open-air stadium for the final, which opened in 2010 and has a capacity of 82,500, hosted the Copa America Centenario final in 2016 when Chile denied Lionel Messi’s Argentina for a second time in a penalty shootout.
FIFA did not announce kickoff times for the games.
Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca will host the opening match of tournament on June 11 when Mexico will become the first nation to stage the World Cup for a third time. The opening day will also feature a match in Guadalajara.
Mexico head coach Jaime Lozano, said in translated comments that his squad will have pressure playing in front of home fans but that they are also happy to feature in the opening game and called it a special day in his life and of the national team.