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

Now that the 2026 World Cup is underway, fans from around the globe will turn their attention to North America, where 48 teams will do battle to take home the biggest prize in football in clashes across Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Co-hosts El Tri came out on top in the opening fixture – downing South Africa 2-0 on Thursday – and it will be an interesting path to the final for every side navigating the competition's new format.

Wondering where the pinnacle event will take place? Here, Football Ground Guide covers all you need to know about the 2026 World Cup final stadium and host city.

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 tournament's first game took place on June 11, 2026, when Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 at Estadio Azteca thanks to goals from Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez as part of a contest that saw three players sent off.

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

Fans of Premier League giants Manchester United and Arsenal may be familiar with the MetLife given that the ground hosted a pre-season meeting between the two in July 2023.

The impressive 2010-built ‘New York' stadium in question, which is home to the NFL teams the New York Giants and New York Jets, is actually located five miles west of New York City.

The MetLife Stadium boasts a capacity well over 80,000, and its artificial pitch was replaced on May 7 with a grass surface, just in time to host Brazil against Morocco on June 13.

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 organised their showpiece event themselves, in-house.

It was argued that the extensive planning processes would be streamlined by doing so, something that was seen as a necessity given the fact that the 2026 World Cup is the first to be hosted across three countries, not to mention the expanded 48-team format.

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, though it will not be the backdrop for the final on June 19. Speaking of South American stadia, Rio de Janeiro's Maracana hosted the pinnacle event 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.