New York/New Jersey will host 2026 FIFA World Cup final; Mexico City gets the opener

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Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

The 2026 FIFA World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium just outside New York City.

FIFA announced on Sunday the full match schedule for the entire 104-game tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico two summers from now. With 48 participating nations — up from 32 teams in 2022 — the 2026 World Cup will also be the largest version ever staged in the competition’s 96-year history.

New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, which sits across the Hudson River from New York City, beat out AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, and SoFi Stadium in greater Los Angeles, California. Dallas will host nine matches in all, more than any of the 16 host cities. The three host nations receive automatic World Cup berths. The remaining 48 squads will qualify based on performance in their own regional qualifying competitions.

Estadio Azteca in Mexico City will stage the tournament opener on June 11, 2026. The iconic Azteca, which hosted the World Cup final in both 1970 and 1986, will also become the first stadium to be used at three different World Cups. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California hosted the World Cup final in 1994, the last time North America held a men’s World Cup, but was not selected this time. Miami will be the site of the third-place match.

The U.S. national team will open its group stage slate in Los Angeles. The Americans will play two of their three first round games in California, with the other one in Seattle, Washington. “When you think of LA, iconic soccer city,” USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter told FOX Sports, noting that Los Angeles also hosted two Women’s World Cup finals, in 1999 and 2003.

The first ever men’s World Cup contest in Canada will take place when the Reds open in Toronto on June 12, the second day of the 2026 competition. It’s one of five group stage matches to be played in Toronto. Five matches will also be held in Vancouver, the other Canadian city involved, including the Reds final two first-round contests.

While the three hosts will remain within their own borders for the entirety of the first round, the United States will stage the majority of the games from the start of the knockout stage and all of them from the quarterfinals on.

2026 FIFA World Cup schedule and venues | FOX Soccer

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.