MetLife Stadium, at the New York/New Jersey headquarters, began its preparation for this summer’s 2026 World Cup, which includes the installation of the grass where 8 games will be played, including the final on July 19.
«This is a warm season grass, Bermuda type. The cold season grass – intended for venues such as Toronto or Vancouver – is Bluegrass reseeded with Ryegrass,” explained FIFA’s head of pitches, David Graham.
He added that they have tried to maintain these two types of grass in all the tournament stadiums “to have a good competition experience.”
The grass that will be used at the NY/NJ headquarters comes from the state of North Carolina after passing several scientific studies from the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University on its good adaptation to the local climate.
8 World Cup matches will be played at MetLife Stadium:
Brazil-Morocco on June 13, France-Senegal on the 16th, Norway-Senegal on the 22nd, Ecuador-Germany on the 25th, Panama-England on the 27th, as well as a round of 32 match, a round of 16 match and the final.
The United States already hosted the FIFA Club World Cup last summer, where both players and coaches widely complained about the state of the playing fields.
MetLife Stadium hosted the final of the competition, which Chelsea won 3-0 against Paris Saint Germain.
FIFA representatives consulted by EFE pointed out that one of the problems that the venues faced last year when installing the playing fields was that they only had about 5 days to prepare the grass, while this summer each stadium has a little more than a month of time margin.
MetLife Stadium, which will be renamed ‘New York/New Jersey Stadium’ for FIFA commercial reasons during World Cup matches, is one of the most prestigious venues in the country when it comes to hosting mass events.
After hosting the grand final of the 2026 World Cup on Sunday, July 19, the rest of the summer will see musical figures such as:
The South Korean group BTS (August 1 and 2), Guns N’ Roses (August 12), Bruno Mars (August 21, 22, 25 and 26), Ed Sheeran (September 4 and 5), the Colombian Karol G (September 17 and 18) and AC/DC (September 25).
MetLife Stadium normally hosts NFL games for the Big Apple’s two American football franchises: the New York Giants and the New York Jets, and has a capacity of 82,500 fans.
(With a report from Jan Téllez Asensio, from EFE)
