The Azteca Stadium was the site of Diego Maradona’s famous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England in 1986.
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the 2026 World Cup final on July 19, while Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium will host the group opener on June 11.
Mexico is one of three countries, along with the United States and Canada, to co-host the expanded 48-team tournament, which will be held over a record 39 days.
The United States hosted the World Cup twice, in 1970 and 1986, and in 1994.
Canada will be the host country for the first time, with the opening game to be played in Toronto on June 12th.
The United States will play its opening game on June 12th at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Azteca, the venue where Argentine international striker Diego Maradona scored his famous ‘Hand of God’ goal in a 2-1 quarter-final win over England in 1986, has a capacity of 83,000.
Home to the American football teams New York Giants and New York Jets, MetLife Stadium is based in East Rutherford, New Jersey and can accommodate 82,500 fans. It was one of his host stadiums for the 1994 World Cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, along with comedian and actor Kevin Hart, rapper Drake and celebrity Kim Kardashian, announced the plans on Sunday, also revealing that the third-place match would be played in Miami.
The quarterfinals and subsequent rounds will be held in U.S. cities, with the best-of-eight matches being held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston, with the semifinals taking place in Dallas and Atlanta. Dallas will host a record nine games.
The World Cup draw will be held at the end of 2025.
The tournament will be held for 10 days longer than the 2022 edition, which will be held in Qatar.
A total of 16 cities were selected, including Monterrey and Guadalajara in Mexico and Vancouver in Canada.
Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle and San Francisco are other host cities in the US.
Only one city, Guadalajara, will not host the final.
Teams are likely to face a large amount of travel between games.
The shortest distance between quarterfinal and semifinal venues is just over 500 miles, from Kansas City to Dallas, and the longest is just under 2,200 miles, between Los Angeles and Atlanta.
“The players and fans were at the heart of our extensive planning for this innovative tournament,” Infantino said, adding that the tournament “will not only set new records, but will also create an indelible legacy. He said it would be a tournament where he would leave the tournament.
FIFA said the schedule was created in consultation with stakeholders, including national team coaches and technical directors.
The governing body announced that each team will have three days of rest in 103 of the tournament’s record 104 games.
“The tournament’s innovative match schedule will minimize travel for teams and fans while maximizing rest days between games,” the governing body said.
The new format will feature 12 four-team groups and a best-of-32 knockout round for the first time.
The tournament host nation will play the group stage at home, while the United States will remain on the West Coast, playing two games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto, followed by two games in Vancouver, while Mexico will play two games at Azteca and one in Guadalajara.