New Jersey

New Jersey to host 2026 World Cup final, Mexico to host opener

Published

2 years ago

February 5, 2024

New Jersey to host 2026 World Cup final, Mexico to host opener

The 2026 World Cup final will be held at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 11, world football’s governing body FIFA has announced.

The world’s most popular sporting event will be held in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to the tournament schedule unveiled by FIFA on Sunday.

The 48-team World Cup will open on June 11 in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca and conclude on July 19 at the 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford in New Jersey.

FIFA officials did not explain their site-decision process.

Canada will host 13 games in total, including 10 in the group stage, split evenly between Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico will also get 13 games, including 10 during the group stage, in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. The rest of the tournament will be held in 11 cities across the US.

Toronto, Mexico City, and Los Angeles will host the opening matches of their respective national teams.

🇺🇸 The #FIFAWorldCup 26 final is headed to New York New Jersey!#WeAre26
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 4, 2024

The open-air stadium for the final, which opened in 2010 and cost $1.6bn, hosted the Copa America Centenario final in 2016 when Chile denied Lionel Messi’s Argentina for a second time in a penalty shootout.

FIFA did not announce kickoff times for the games.

Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca will host the opening match of the tournament on June 11, when Mexico will become the first nation to stage the World Cup for a third time. The opening day will also feature a match in Guadalajara.

Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986, with the finals of both editions held at Estadio Azteca where Pele’s Brazil crushed Italy 4-1 and Diego Maradona’s Argentina beat West Germany 3-2.

Maradona also scored the famous “hand of God” goal and the “goal of the century” at the same venue in a 2-1 victory over England in the 1986 quarterfinal.

📍 Mexico City
🏟️ Estadio Azteca
🗓️ 11 June 2026
🇲🇽 The #FIFAWorldCup 26 opening match is coming to Mexico!
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 4, 2024
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The first match in Canada, which has never hosted a World Cup game, will be on June 12 in Toronto at the home of the city’s Major League Soccer team, while the opening game in the US will be in Los Angeles.

Each of the tournament hosts will spend the group stage in their own countries, with the USA team sticking to the West Coast and playing twice in Los Angeles and once in Seattle.

Canada will play one group stage game in Toronto, followed by two in Vancouver, while Mexico will play twice at Estadio Azteca and once in Guadalajara.

The tournament will shift entirely to the US starting with the quarterfinals, which will be held in Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami and Boston.

Dallas and Atlanta will host the two semifinals on July 14 and 15, respectively, Miami will be the venue of the third-place playoff, while Philadelphia will host a round-of-16 match on July 4 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The 2026 World Cup will feature 104 matches instead of the traditional 64 games, including an additional knockout round due to the previously announced decision to expand to 48 teams from 32.

A nation will need to play eight matches to win the title, up from seven since 1982.

Given the distance and different climates across the 16 host cities, FIFA opted to divide the venues being used into three regions – east, central and west – with teams operating out of a base camp in the same region as their games.

The stadiums in Arlington, Atlanta and Houston have retractable roofs that are expected to be closed because of summer heat, and Inglewood and Vancouver have fixed roofs.

Artificial turf will be replaced by grass in Arlington, Atlanta, East Rutherford, Foxborough, Houston, Inglewood and Vancouver.

Several of the venues are expected to widen their surfaces to accommodate a 75-by-115-yard (68-by-105-metre) playing field.

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New Jersey

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly $24K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

Published

6 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

2-minute read

PATERSON — In a three-month span at the end of 2022, state Sen. Benjie Wimberly, then an assemblyman, spent more than $7,200 in political donations on hotel bills, airfare and other travel expenses.

Now, Wimberly has been fined about $24,000 by New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission, partly for spending campaign funds on his own personal use.

The ELEC complaint against Wimberly had been pending since December 2024, and a settlement between the state and the senator was reached at the end of May 2026. ELEC made details of the deal public on July 1.

“Senator Wimberly chose to settle the matter with ELEC because his priority is addressing the immediate and important needs of his district,” said his attorney, Angelo Genova, a prominent and well-connected lawyer in New Jersey political circles.

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“As expressly stated in the Consent Order and Final Decision, Senator Wimberly and his treasurer neither admit nor deny the violations, and they maintain their good-faith belief that the disputed expenditures were permissible under the law,” Genova added.

Wimberly’s campaign treasurer, David Cozart, works as an assistant superintendent for Paterson Public Schools, with a $213,000 salary. Wimberly also works for the city school district as director of recreation, with a $194,000 salary.

The commission determined that 19 of Wimberly’s expenditures at the end of 2022, when he was still an Assembly member, were for impermissible uses. The order said $10,861 of the fine stemmed from Wimberly’s improper use of political funds. The rest of the penalty was for late filing of a finance report that covered October through December of 2022.

Among the expenditures highlighted by ELEC were:

$645 to the Hilton Garden Inn Lodge Colonial on Oct. 11, 2022.
$751 to the Embassy Suites Hampton on Oct. 25, 2022.
$497 to the Landing at Hampton on Nov. 8, 2022.
$322 to the Hilton Garden Inn on Dec. 6, 2022.
$378 to the Omni Hotels on Dec. 14, 2022.

The ELEC complaint did not provide specific locations of those businesses.

Partial payment of $4,000 in April

The order said Wimberly and Cozart made a partial payment of $4,000 in April 2026. The election commission also reduced the penalty, lowering it to $15,335.

Going forward, Cozart and Wimberly would make four payments of $3,833.99 through April 2027, the order said.

Wimberly supporters noted that the original complaint filed against him came at the end of 2024, when he was still an Assembly member making a bid for the vacant New Jersey 35th District Senate seat left vacant when Nellie Pou went to Congress.

Wimberly sought the Senate seat even though several Passaic County Democratic party leaders were backing then-Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter for the Senate. After the initial tally ended in a tie, Wimberly won the internal party election by one vote over Sumter.

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New Jersey

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Published

18 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Last week wasn’t a great one when it comes to weather at the Jersey Shore.

This one will be much better, at least if you like heat.

A heat wave will hit New Jersey this week with hot weather moving into the area on Tuesday. The warm temperatures will stick around for most of the week before we get a little relief by the end of the weekend.

The National Weather Service forecasts the heat wave to start July 14 with a sunny day with highs around 92 degrees. Wednesday is even hotter with temperatures expected to flirt with 100 degrees. Thursday stays hot with a high of 92 degrees forecasted, with Friday and Saturday also expected to see highs in the low 80s.

According to the NOAA, Wednesday the Jersey Shore area will be under an extreme heat watch.

Tuesday through Friday are expected to be sunny, with some clouds. Saturday is when showers roll in.

Sunday the heatwave is expected to break. Showers are also expected to stick around with a high of 84 degrees expected.

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New Jersey

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

2-minute read

The Record, NorthJersey.com, the Daily Record and the New Jersey Herald want to keep you up to date on all the newest shops, restaurants and service providers moving into your towns. Below is a roundup of businesses that recently opened or are coming soon.

Are you opening a business in North Jersey? Get the word out to your neighbors as soon as possible. Send us your information and photos and we will try to add them to our next new-business roundup.

We’re also interested in reporting business closings. Have a tip? Contact Business Reporter Daniel Munoz at munozd@northjersey.com, or 201-270-9870, and Stephanie Noda at noda@northjersey.com, or 973-558-0950.

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