The final of the 2026 Men's Football World Cup, contested by 48 teams and co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will take place in New York on July 19, Fifa announced on Sunday.
The opening ceremony and match will take place at Mexico City's historic Azteca Stadium on June 11.
MetLife Stadium, host of the New York Jets and Giants American football teams, located precisely in East Rutherford in New Jersey (west of Manhattan), was preferred to Dallas and Los Angeles, other cities considered to host the final.
The Azteca stadium is the first stadium in history to have the honors of opening the competition for the third time, after 1970 and 1986, editions which resulted respectively, in the same enclosure, in the coronations of Brazil by Pelé and Maradona's Argentina.
Ladies and gentlemen,
🚨 Ready for an American show on 𝟭𝟵 𝗷𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 at the New York New Jersey Stadium for the final of the #WorldCup 26 🔥#NousSommes26 pic.twitter.com/Jq4Ehaqxw 0
— World Cup 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_fr) February 4, 2024
Canada will play its first match in Toronto on June 12 and the United States in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium the same day, before playing in Seattle, Fifa announced through Gianni Infantino during a televised ceremony in the presence of including comedian Kevin Hart, rapper Drake and star Kim Kardashian.
“The fan experience is going to be incredible,” promised Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, in a beige hooded jacket and white sneakers.
Italo-Switzerland is hoping for “6 million supporters” and “6 billion viewers” for a tournament more impressive than ever.
First World Cup with 48 teams
The match for third place will take place in Miami, where superstar Lionel Messi has been playing at Inter Miami since last year.
The Argentine, aged 36, winner of the previous edition in Qatar in December 2022, has not closed the door to a presence in 2026. He is already expected at the Copa America, contested this year in the United States from June 20 to July 16, a sort of “pre-world”.
The format of the competition has been expanded to 48 teams, compared to 32 since 1998, for a total of 104 matches distributed between 16 stadiums already revealed in 2022: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Boston , Philadelphia, Miami and New York in the United States;
Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico;
Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.