Kick-off in Mexico
The final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place in New Jersey
The 2026 World Cup will be a gigantic tournament with 104 matches. The world association has now announced details of the schedule. The locations for the final and opening match in more than two years have also now been decided.
The 2026 soccer world champion will be crowned in the Big Apple. As the world association FIFA announced during a major live show, the final of the final round in the USA, Mexico and Canada will be played on July 19th in the MetLife Stadium of the New York soccer clubs in New Jersey. The opening game will take place in the venerable Aztec Stadium in Mexico City.
The NFL stadium of the Giants and Jets in East Rutherford hosted the final of the 100th Copa America between Argentina and Chile (2:4 on penalties) in 2016. In the football league, the arena has space for 82,500 spectators. Most of the 104 matches of the World Cup finals will be played in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington near the Texas metropolis of Dallas (9).
With the opening match, the Aztec Stadium in Mexico's capital will become the first arena in World Cup history to host three finals. Both the 1986 World Cup, with the famous “Hand of God” by Argentina's legend Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals against England, and the 1970 finals, with Germany's “Game of the Century” in the semi-finals against Italy, took place there.
Mammoth tournament with 104 games
The USA will play its opening match on July 12 in Los Angeles, with further matches for the Americans taking place in Seattle. Canada will start in Toronto. With eleven stadiums, the USA will provide the most arenas for the mammoth World Cup, which will be played for the first time with 48 teams. There are three venues in Mexico, and in Canada there will be Vancouver as well as Toronto. While Mexico is hosting the men's World Cup for the third time and the USA for the second time, the games will be a first for Canada.
A total of 104 matches are scheduled to be played at the tournament, 40 more than at previous World Cups since 1998. Due to the high number of matches, the tournament is also longer than previous events, with a total of 39 days.
