2026 FIFA World Cup final to be played in New Jersey

The 2026 FIFA World Cup final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, U.S., on July 19, with games spread across three North American nations.

The 2026 World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, U.S., on July 19.

FIFA made the announcement Sunday at a Miami television studio, allocating the opener of the 39-day tournament spread across three North American nations to Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca on June 11 and the finale to the home of the NFL's New York Jets and Giants.

“It will be a celebration of our diversity and our values,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said in a telephone interview. “The bigger picture is what leads up to it and what we leave behind for the decades to come.”

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had lobbied for the final to be at his AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“The competition was dealing with the perception of the coastal, of a New York, or a Los Angeles,” he said. “If this were totally being played to just America and the United States, that wouldn’t have been such a formidable thing to overcome. But internationally, that’s formidable to overcome.”

All games from the quarterfinals on are in the United States. Semifinals are on July 14 at AT&T Stadium and the following day at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Quarterfinals are at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on July 9, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the following day, and at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on July 11. The third-place game will be at Hard Rock on July 18.