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The 104-game tournament begins June 11 in Mexico, before moving entirely to the United States for the quarterfinals.
World soccer governing body FIFA has announced that the 2026 World Cup final will be held on July 11 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The world’s most popular sporting event will be held in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to the tournament schedule released by FIFA on Sunday.
The 48-team World Cup will open on June 11th at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and conclude on July 19th at the 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
FIFA officials did not explain the process used to decide on the venue.
Canada will host a total of 13 games, including 10 in the group stage, split evenly between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will play 13 matches, including 10 group stage matches in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The remaining tournaments will be held in 11 cities across the United States.
Toronto, Mexico City and Los Angeles will host their respective national teams’ opening games.
🇺🇸 #FIFA World Cup The finals on the 26th will be in New York and New Jersey!#WeAre26
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 4, 2024
The open-air stadium for the final opened in 2010, costing $1.6 billion, and hosted the Copa America Centenario final in 2016, with Chile denying Lionel Messi’s Argentina a second shot in a penalty shootout. did.
FIFA has not announced the kick-off time for the match.
Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca will host the tournament’s opening match on June 11, making Mexico the first country to host the World Cup for the third time. A match will also be played in Guadalajara on the first day.
Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, with the finals of both competitions being held at the Estadio Azteca, with Pele’s Brazil defeating Italy 4-1 and Diego Maradona’s Argentina defeating West Germany 3-2. It broke.
Maradona also scored the famous “Hand of God” goal and the “goal of the century” at the same venue in the 1986 quarter-final win against England, 2–1.
📍 Mexico City
🏟️ Estadio Azteca
🗓️ June 11, 2026🇲🇽 #FIFA World Cup The opening game on the 26th will be held in Mexico!
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 4, 2024
The first game in Canada, which has never hosted a World Cup game before, will be played on June 12 in Toronto, home of the Major League Soccer team, while the opening game in the United States will be in Los Angeles.
Each tournament host country will spend the group stage in their home country, with the American team sticking to the West Coast, playing twice in Los Angeles and once in Seattle.
Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto, followed by two in Vancouver, while Mexico will play two games at Estadio Azteca and one in Guadalajara.
The tournament will move entirely to the United States starting with the quarterfinals, and will be held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston.
Dallas and Atlanta will host two semifinal games on July 14 and 15, respectively, Miami will host the third-place game, and Philadelphia will host a Round of 16 game on July 4 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the start of the war. to hold. Declaration of independence.
The 2026 World Cup will feature 104 matches instead of the previous 64, including an additional knock-out tournament due to the decision to expand the number of teams from the previously announced 32 to 48.
A country needs to play eight games to win the title, up from seven since 1982.
Taking into account the distance and climate differences between the 16 host cities, FIFA chose to divide the venues into three regions: Eastern, Central and Western, with each team operating from a base camp in the same region as the match. .
Stadiums in Arlington, Atlanta and Houston have retractable roofs but are expected to be closed due to the summer heat, while stadiums in Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.
Artificial turf will be replaced with grass in Arlington, Atlanta, East Rutherford, Foxboro, Houston, Inglewood and Vancouver.
Some venues will be expanded to accommodate a 75 x 115 yard (68 x 105 meter) playing field.
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