2026 World Cup Ultimate To Be Afternoon Match at MetLife Stadium on July 19

[ad_1] The World Cup last will kick off at 3 p.m. EDT subsequent July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

FIFA introduced the beginning instances for the match's 104 matches on Saturday, a day after the draw for the expanded 48-nation match to be performed within the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The kickoff time permits for prime-time viewing in Europe, the place it will likely be 9 p.m., and Britain, the place it will likely be 8 p.m.

MetLife is open air. The common 3 p.m. temperature over the previous 30 years in East Rutherford on July 19 is 83 levels (28 Celsius) with a RealFeel index of 89 (32), in response to AccuWeather.

9 of the ten World Cup finals from 1978 by means of 2014 began within the 2-3:30 p.m. EDT vary, the exception being 2002 in Japan, which started at 7 a.m. EDT. The 2018 last began at 11 a.m. EDT and the 2022 championship of a match shifted to winter in Qatar at 10 a.m. EST.

The 1994 last on the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, kicked off at 12:30 p.m. native time (3:30 p.m. EDT).

FIFA introduced the schedule and websites after factoring in journey and broadcast.

"Let’s simply say it’s been a protracted evening — or a brief evening," chief match officer Manolo Zubiria mentioned. "As I defined earlier to among the coaches, we’ve tried to mainly strike the correct steadiness wanting on the preparation, the restoration that the groups need to do on this very giant footprint, the most important World Cup ever, 16 cities, three nations, totally different weather conditions, time zones."

Zubira mentioned objectives included "attempting to reduce journey for the groups and the followers to attempt to see their groups play, and clearly attempting to see tips on how to greatest expose this competitors to the world, looking for the correct instances for the kickoff instances in particular cities, taking into account some restrictions."

There are 54 day video games and 50 beginning at 6 p.m. or later native time. Twenty-four of 32 knockout matches are day video games, together with 14 of the final 16 video games.

FIFPRO, the worldwide gamers' union, in June mentioned afternoon Cup video games in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, and Miami Gardens, Florida, had "extraordinarily excessive threat" of heat-related damage, Foxborough, Guadalajara and Philadelphia had "very excessive threat" and East Rutherford and Inglewood had "excessive threat."

Kansas Metropolis has all evening video games whereas Miami has a pair of 5 p.m. begins and 5 evening matches.

On the 1994 match within the U.S., there have been seven evening video games among the many 52 matches, none within the knockout part.

The opener at Mexico Metropolis on June 11 between El Tri and South Africa will begin at 1 p.m. native (3 p.m. EDT).

Semifinals will begin at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. EDT) on July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and three p.m. the next day at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, each of which have retractable roofs.

Quarterfinals will start at 4 p.m. on July 9 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and midday (3 p.m. EDT) the next day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The final two quarterfinals are on July 11, beginning at 5 p.m. at Miami's Laborious Rock Stadium and eight p.m. (9 p.m. EDT) at Kansas Metropolis's Arrowhead Stadium. Of the quarterfinal venues, SoFi has a roof, however air from the surface can circulate in, and the opposite three are open air.

FIFA introduced on Feb. 4 final yr that the ultimate was scheduled for New Jersey and on June 12 revealed site-specific matchups for video games within the new spherical of 32, spherical of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.

Seventy-eight video games will probably be within the U.S., together with all from the quarterfinals on, and 13 apiece in Canada and Mexico.

Throughout an occasion on the Capital Hilton, FIFA additionally introduced the websites of the 54 group stage video games not finalized with Friday's draw, which mounted venues for less than Teams A, B and D — which embrace the co-hosts.

South Korea is the one workforce aside from Canada and Mexico with no video games within the U.S., enjoying its opener in Guadalajara towards the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eire or North Macedonia, then dealing with El Tri on the similar venue and ending the spherical towards South Africa in Monterrey.

The U.S. first-round video games will probably be a 6 p.m. native begin (9 p.m. EDT) towards Paraguay at Inglewood on June 12, a midday kickoff (3 p.m. EDT) vs. Australia at Seattle seven days later and a 7 p.m. begin on June 25 at SoFi towards Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.

Japan’s Group F sport towards Tunisia at Monterrey, Mexico, on June 20 would be the 1,000th World Cup match and kicks off at 10 p.m. native time (midnight EDT).

"We had to bear in mind the general public and the locals that they weren’t put in drastic climate situations," Zubiria mentioned.

Germany’s June 14 Group E opener towards Curaçao will kick off at midday native (1 p.m. EDT) at NRG Stadium. Curaçao has the smallest inhabitants of a rustic to achieve the World Cup at about 150,000.

"It is going to be performed in Houston, which is a closed venue, indoor, so no person can complain about warmth or climate or wind or no matter," FIFA president Gianni Infantino mentioned.

To play on either side of the nation, Canada begins in Toronto on June 12 towards Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Eire or Wales, after which performs in Vancouver, British Columbia, towards Qatar and Switzerland. Canada coach Jesse Marsch intends to go to Santa Clara for the Qatar-Switzerland sport.

"Every part appears to be like favorable for us. We’re excited to play at dwelling. Want it was tomorrow," he mentioned.

Reporting by The Related Press.

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