Friday, November 22, 2024

MetLife Stadium will play host to 2026 FIFA Club World Cup final in July

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY: An exterior view of MetLife Stadium after an announcement by FIFA on February 5, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Eduardo MunozAlvarez/VIEW press via Getty Images)

MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets, will be the site of the 2026 Club World Cup final in July 2025, FIFA announced on Saturday.

FIFA also revealed the 11 other stadiums that will be used for the 32-team tournament.

The Club World Cup, which will begin on June 15, 2025, will see games played at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium, Los Angeles’ Rose Bowl Stadium, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Nashville’s GEODIS Park, Orlando’s Camping World Stadium and Inter&Co Stadium, Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, Seattle’s Lumen Field, and Washington D.C.’s Audi Field leading up to the final on July 13, 2025.

Five of the stadiums — MetLife Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, Lumen Field, Hard Rock Stadium — will also host games during the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The 2025 Club World Cup will feature a new 32-team format that will see 12 teams from Europe, six from South America, four from Asia, four from Africa, four from North and Central America and the Caribbean, one from Oceania, and another team from the host country, the U.S.

Two more teams — one from the U.S. and one from South America — are still to qualify.

Eight groups of four will be drawn with each team playing three matches during the group stage. The top two teams from each group will move on to the knockout portion of the tournament.

The draw will be held in December.

The timing of the 2025 Club World Cup has brought criticism, with FIFPRO, the international players’ union, saying in December that the event “will undercut the rest and recovery time of these players at the end of the 2024-25 season” and that FIFA’s decision “demonstrates a lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players, as well as a disregard for their personal and family lives.”

Europe: Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg

South America: Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras, River Plate

North and Central America and the Caribbean: León, Monterrey, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders

Africa: Al Ahly, Espérance, Mamelodi Sundowns, Waydad

Asia: Al-Hilal, Al Ain, Ulsan, Urawa

Oceania: Auckland City

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