NY/NJ KICKS IN ’26

MetLife World Cup

Start spreadin’ the news. New York City and New Jersey teamed up to land some of the 2026 World Cup games at MetLife Stadium, FIFA announced Thursday. The Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Dallas areas were among the other locations picked to host the soccer tournament, which will be the first with an expanded 48-team bracket and three co-hosting countries in North America. The New York/New Jersey games will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets. FIFA revealed its chosen host cities via a livestream Thursday, and the mood got tense at a viewing party in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park when The City That Never Sleeps was the last location announced. But the crowd erupted in applause and chants of “New York” and “New Jersey” once it became clear the metro area would get its share of the game. “Was that good news or what?” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the crowd. When New Jersey last hosted cup games in 1994, it had an economic impact of more than $500 million — and Murphy said he was looking to host “a lot of games” in 2026.

“As much as we want the early games, there is one game we want: We want the last game,” he told the raucous crowd. “We want that World Cup trophy hoisted right here up the road in MetLife Stadium.”

FIFA is expected to announce the location of the final next year.

‘What it’s all about’

Mayor Adams said that soccer “has a way of bringing us all together” and that the cup would be a relief after a stressful few years.

“This is what it is all about. All of us that have been weighed down by COVID, all of us that wondered what the future would be like, the question mark lingered over our city and country for two years,” Adams said.

“Today, these young people and their enthusiasm, they took that question mark and they turned it into an exclamation point. You’re darn right we are going to be all right. The World Cup is coming here to New York and New Jersey.”

Soccer fanatics were just as jazzed by the news.

“I’m so excited for it. Can’t wait to watch the finals,” said Kevin Doherty, 9, of Long Island. “I was so happy.”

Of the games, 60 will be played in the US, with the quarterfinals and all subsequent rounds scheduled to be played stateside. Canada and Mexico will host 10 games apiece. All venues will be converted to grass fields for the soccer games.

Looks like Paige Spiranac doesn’t spend all of her time “clubbing” — though the 29-year-old Instagram sexpot did shoot to fame and 3.3 million followers by posting foxy photos while on the golf course — as she swaps the links for the beach in Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 issue, in which she’s named Sexiest Woman Alive. After excelling in college golf, Spiranac failed to make the cut for the LPGA tour. “I wish I played golf at a higher level and accomplished more,” she tells Maxim, “but I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”