On Sunday FIFA announced that MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the final of the 2026 World Cup on July 19. The whole tournament will happen across North America, starting on June 11 in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. passing through the United States and Canada. On June 12, Toronto will play its first match ever in the World Cup in BMO Field.
The MetLife Stadium is the home of the NFL’s New York teams, the Jets and the Giants. It is only five miles from the Bronx and it’s one of its biggest stadiums, with 82,500 capacity. It has already been the venue of some major sport events, like the Super Bowl in February 2014 and the final of the Copa America Centenario in 2016. In addition, many of the greatest artists, like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, took over the stadium stage for their concerts.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition to have 48 teams. The tournament will last 39 days taking in 104 matches, the most in its history.
The US team will play their first match on 12 June at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, well-known as a soccer city, having already hosting three World Cup finals–the men’s in 1994 and the women’s in 1999 and in 2003.
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, the Italian Azzurri are ready to be back in the US for the first time since a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in 2005. In the next few months, they will play a pair of exhibition games, one at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, against Venezuela on March 21 and the other at Harrison, New Jersey, against Ecuador.
