Soccer Football – FIFA Club World Cup – Final – Chelsea v Paris St Germain – MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S. – July 13, 2025 General view inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
MetLife Stadium will play host to powerhouses France, Germany, and England during its five group-stage matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as revealed during the competition’s schedule reveal on Saturday afternoon.
The newly expanded field of 48 nations was divided into 12 four-team groups on Friday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was already known that MetLife Stadium, located just a stone’s throw away from New York City, would host matches from Groups C, E, I, and L in the opening two weeks of the tournament.
Here is the local, full schedule of the festivities descending upon the Meadowlands:
MetLife Stadium 2026 World Cup group stage schedule
- Saturday, June 13: Brazil vs. Morocco, 6 p.m. ET (Group C)
- Tuesday, June 16: France vs. Senegal, 3 p.m. (Group I)
- Monday, June 22: Norway vs. Senegal, 8 p.m. (Group I)
- Thursday, June 25: Ecuador vs. Germany, 4 p.m. (Group E)
- Saturday, June 27: Panama vs. England, 5 p.m. (Group L)
MetLife Stadium could not have asked for a bigger opening match. Brazil is the most successful nation at the World Cup, with five titles, while Morocco is the most successful African country, having been the first from the continent to reach the semifinals three years ago in Qatar.
Germany, the three-time winners, face a tricky test in Ecuador, who lost just twice in South American qualifying and finished second only behind the defending champions Argentina.
Kylian Mbappe and France will face Sadio Mane and Senegal in a rematch of the 2002 World Cup opener in South Korea, which featured one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history when Papa Bouba Diop’s goal lifted the African nation over, at the time, the defending world champions.
“It certainly was a long night,” Manolo Zubiria, 2026 FIFA World Cup chief tournament officer, said. “The minute the last team was drawn, it was already from earlier on, a large group of FIFA colleagues present who tried to put together this puzzle. As you can imagine, so many different factors played a part. We tried to strike the right balance when looking at the preparation and recovery these teams have to do… We tried to minimize travel for the teams and their fans and try to best expose this competition to the world, try to find the right kick-off times… ultimately, that’s what we achieved through the night.”
The group stage is, of course, just an appetizer of MetLife Stadium’s role as one of the host sites. Following a Round of 32 and Round of 16 match, the home of the Giants and Jets will play host to the World Cup Final — the largest singular sporting event on the planet.
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