2026 World Cup final stadium: Where is the host city?

With the new 48-team FIFA World Cup now almost upon us, nations will be finalising their plans for the tournament, which will be held in Canada, the United States of America and Mexico. Whether the unprecedented format will be a success or not remains to be seen, but we will certainly know by the time of the 2026 World Cup final.

The stadium in which the final will be held has been announced after much delay, and here, you can find out the answers as to why it was chosen in this guide.

When is the 2026 World Cup final?

The World Cup final will tale place on July 19, 2026, and New York New Jersey's MetLife Stadium has been chosen as the staging ground.

The competition's first match will take place on June 11, 2026, with Mexico set to face South Africa at Estadio Azteca.

Where will the final be held?

New York New Jersey's MetLife Stadium was only announced as the venue for the final in December 2025, though it was surprising that the announcement was made so late.

Perhaps the fact FIFA had to organise their tournament across three different countries and 16 host cities played a part, but at least a venue has been found.

Those 16 host cities are have been divided by geographical divisions, with the Canadian city of Vancouver joining the Mexican city of Guadalajara and the USA's Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles in a five-city Western Division.

The Central Division is made up of the USA's Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and the Mexican duo of Monterrey and the capital Mexico City. Meanwhile, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Miami (all USA) and Toronto (Canada) are in the five-city Eastern Division.

MetLife Stadium, New York/New Jersey

Location: East Rutherford, New Jersey
Capacity: 82,500
Opened: 2010
Cost: $1.6bn
Hosted football before: Yes
Main use: Home of NFL teams New York Giants and New York Jets
Roof: No

Host of a pre-season meeting between Premier League giants Manchester United and Arsenal in July 2023, the MetLife Stadium is experienced in football fixtures already.

The ‘New York' stadium in question is actually five miles west of New York City. The arena would be the impressive 2010-built MetLife Stadium, home to the NFL teams the New York Giants and New York Jets. Its capacity is well over 80,000, but its pitch could be a concern. It's one of several stadiums chosen for the 2026 World Cup that has an artificial turf. This will need to be replaced by a grass field prior to the World Cup.

Why was the 2026 World Cup final stadium decision delayed?

FIFA have organised the 2026 World Cup, a rare occasion in which the global football governing body organisied their show-piece event themselves, in-house. The argument was that doing so would streamline all the planning procedures. It was argued that it was necessary in this instance due to the fact this World Cup is the first to be hosted across three countries and it will be the first to include a bumper 48 teams.

Money, of course, plays a factor, too. FIFA expects to generate in excess of $11bn from the 2026 World Cup, and organising the event themselves will allow them to manage that money closely, instead of seeing it split across several organisations and countries.

How many games will there be at the 2026 World Cup?

There will be 104 games at the 2026 World Cup, an increase on the 64 matches played at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. That’s because the tournament has been expanded from 32 teams to 48, a huge increase that requires enormous organisational changes.

Who has hosted the World Cup final before?

The last North American stadium to host the FIFA World Cup final was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. A 94,194 crowd watched Brazil defeat Italy on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the 1994 World Cup final.

Prior to that, Mexico City's Estadio Azteca (pictured earlier) welcome a 114,600-strong audience for the 1986 edition, in which Diego Maradona guided Argentina to a 3-2 victory over West Germany.

The Azteca is a host stadium again for the 2026 World Cup, which created the possibility of it becoming the second stadium in football history to host two men's World Cup finals. Rio de Janeiro's Maracana became the first, hosting in 1950 and again in 2014.

The USA has become only the fourth country, after Italy, France, and Brazil, to host two men's World Cup finals.

Here's a full list of previous World Cup finals and their host stadia.