DALLAS — On Sunday afternoon, we finally learned if all rumored reports for the past few years about AT&T Stadium hosting the 2026 World Cup Final were true.
Turns out, they weren't.
Instead, the stadium in Arlington, Texas will host a semi-final match, a round of 16 match, two round of 32 matches and five group stage matches, bringing its total to nine matches -- the most of any site in the tournament.
AT&T Stadium will host nine total matches in the tournament:
- Five group stage matches on June 14, June 17, June 22, June 25, and June 27
- Two Round of 32 games on June 30 and July 3
- One Round of 16 game on July 8
- One Semi-Final game on July 14
Since the 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada were announced in June 2022, Jerry World had been rumored to be FIFA's choice for the coveted match three different times -- twice by ESPN Deportes reporters and a third time last month by UK publication The Sun.
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and SoFi Stadium outside of Los Angeles, Calif., were the other two reported favorites to contend with AT&T Stadium for the final.
MetLife turned out to be the choice of FIFA for that last game.
The FIFA announcement came during a 2 p.m. (CST) broadcast on on Sunday as the full tournament schedule was announced.
The 2026 tournament will include 104 total matches, making it the biggest World Cup in history.
WFAA will continue its extensive World Cup coverage with a digital-exclusive live stream reacting to the FIFA match announcement, as well as speaking to North Texas leaders for their reaction.
WFAA Sports Anchor Mike Leslie and WFAA's World Cup and FC Dallas beat writer, Senior Digital Content Producer Paul Livengood, will host the digital show, starting at 1:45 p.m. (CST) Sunday throughout the entirety of FIFA's announcement.
They'll be joined by WFAA Reporter Matt Houston, who will be out at AT&T Stadium getting reaction from North Texas leaders reacting to the match schedule.
You can watch WFAA's World Cup match announcement coverage on WFAA's YouTube page here or on WFAA+.
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