MetLife Stadium will stage the championship game of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA announced Sunday, bringing the final of the men’s soccer spectacle to the New York area.
The choice of the 82,500-seat venue in East Rutherford, N.J., was a departure from World Cup titles decided in Southern California — the 1994 tournament for men and the 1999 and 2003 for women. The Los Angeles area was not in contention this time because its World Cup venue, three-year-old SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., fails to meet FIFA’s minimum seating capacity of 80,000 for a men’s final.