FIFA awards final to New Jersey – opening game to Mexico

The 2026 World Cup will take place in Canada, Mexico and the USA. The locations for the opening game and the final have now been determined.

The 2026 World Cup final will be played on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The world association Fifa announced this in a show to publish the schedule for the tournament in just over two years.

The opening game will take place on June 11, 2026 at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. The USA starts the tournament one day later in Los Angeles, and co-host Canada also starts on June 12th in Toronto. The game for third place takes place in Miami.

The 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico is the first final round with 48 participants. A total of 104 games are scheduled to kick off at the tournament, 40 more than at the previous World Championships since 1998. Due to the high number of games, the tournament is also longer than the previous events with a total of 39 days. At the end of 2022, the last and compact final round was held in Qatar in 29 days; world champion Argentina needed seven games to win the title.

The organizers announced the schedule at an elaborate show. In addition to World Association President Gianni Infantino, Canadian rapper Drake, reality TV star Kim Kardashian and US comedian and actor Kevin Hart were also there.

The finals of the 1970 and 1986 World Cups were held in the legendary Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. The 4:3 in the 1970 World Cup semi-final between Italy and Germany, which became known as the game of the century, was also played here. The arena will be renovated for the 2026 tournament. The NFL football teams New York Giants and New York Jets play their home games at MetLife Stadium.

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