The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final is at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, which is in the area of Dallas. According to a report by SunSport, FIFA picked the Dallas Cowboys’ arena over MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. MetLife Stadium is the current home of fellow NFL duo the New York Giants and New York Jets.
Although the British news outlet has made the call, FIFA will not officially name the final host city until February. Nevertheless, the upcoming decision regarding AT&T Stadium is not exactly surprising. After all, the Arlington arena was previously viewed as an overwhelming frontrunner to host the tournament final.
Along with hosting the last match of the competition, Texas will also reportedly be FIFA’s home base for the duration of the World Cup. The host city is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area. The region is currently the most populous metro area in the southern portion of the United States. Miami and New York were both previously considered as well.
FIFA, AT&T Stadium bringing grass to Dallas stadium for World Cup Final
FIFA execs visited AT&T Stadium multiple times since naming the United States as co-hosts for the 2026 World Cup. The officials received the state-of-the-art arena well, but there have been concerns about the playing surface.
The Arlington arena has hosted a series of soccer matches since 2009. This includes CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League matches, as well as an El Clasico fixture between Barcelona and Real Madrid. The stadium is hosting multiple 2024 Copa America games as well.
The Dallas Cowboys typically play their NFL games on artificial turf. However, mats of natural grass have been laid down on the surface for soccer matches in the past. Despite utilizing real grass, injuries have occurred during these games due to seams in the sod. Players’ cleats momentarily stick in these seams, creating fairly significant issues for both health and the quality of the game.
Heimo Schirgi, FIFA’s chief operating officer, recently expressed concerns regarding turf alterations at AT&T Stadium in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “We are looking at the pitch conversion and how that conversion is going to be done to make it a natural grass surface that will actually survive the duration of the tournament, which is a huge challenge,” stated Schirgi.
Nevertheless, the stadium’s owner, Jerry Jones, has since proclaimed that he is willing to make FIFA happy on the issue. Jones has insisted that he will pay for a new system that grows grass directly on the playing surface. This takes care of the previous seam problems in the sod. Partially due to these issues, AT&T Stadium did not rank highly in World Soccer Talk‘s review of potential World Cup Final host arenas.
FIFA has announced big changes for the upcoming tournament
The 2026 World Cup will feature some significant changes compared to previous iterations of the tournament. FIFA has expanded the field of the competition from 32 teams to 48. The teams split into 12 groups of four nations.
Along with the top two teams in each group, the eight best third-placed teams will move on to the round of 32. In total, FIFA is organizing 104 matches for the tournament. This is 40 games more than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This complements the high number of matches coming to the United States in the summer before the World Cup. In 2025, both the Gold Cup and FIFA Club World Cup are in the United States. These, combined with the Copa America this summer, make the United States a hub for international soccer.
World Soccer Talk has contacted FIFA to comment on the news but they had not responded as of press time.
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