The biggest sporting event in the world is coming to New Jersey in 2026, and the man who had a major role in bringing it here would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little surprised.
Oh, to be clear, Gov. Phil Murphy was hopeful. He knew the state’s joint bid with New York City for the World Cup Final was a compelling one. He knew he had the world’s largest media market on his side, millions of soccer fans in the region and Lady Liberty as a backdrop. He also had seen all the news leaks over the past few months that Dallas, somehow, was the prohibitive favorite.
So, yeah, New Jersey found itself in a familiar role — the underdog — when FIFA’s selection show began on Sunday afternoon. Then, at 3:50 p.m., FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the seven words that guaranteed soccer history would be made right here off Exit 16W of the New Jersey Turnpike. “The winner is: New York/New Jersey.”
That’s when Murphy did the only thing that felt right.
“I screamed,” he said with a laugh.
Go ahead and circle July 19 on your 2026 calendar, if you happen to have one already. The World Cup Final is coming to MetLife Stadium, and when it does, it will supplant Super Bowl XLVIII from a decade ago as the biggest sporting event ever held in our state.
Did you watch Argentina defeat France in the 2022 final? When superstar Lionel Messi electrified the world with the most clutch performance in his brilliant career? That’s the kind of forever moment that New Jersey might host in 895 days, and it will come at the end of a month-long soccerpalooza with watch parties, teams training in facilities around the state and, of course, a total of eight crucial World Cup games at MetLife.
This is a big, big, B-I-G deal.
“The game is huge, and by the way, we’ll have eight of them — which is crazy,” Murphy told NJ Advance Media in a phone interview after the announcement. “The huge story, if we do it right and I think we will, will be the build-up to the game (of soccer) and the legacy that will be measured in decades that this event will leave behind.”
Murphy, a lifelong soccer fan, isn’t sure what may have swayed FIFA in the end. He said he received no advance notice of the announcement, and while there was a secret “final pitch” meeting with FIFA officials late last week, nothing happened to change the narrative that it was Dallas — and not New Jersey — that would be celebrating on Sunday.
That narrative was so persuasive, in fact, that I thought for sure both of the following things had happened:
1. Dallas Cowboys billionaire owner Jerry Jones secretly had presented every FIFA official with his or her own personal Texas oil rig as “motivation” to pick his stadium. Hey, do you think the last two World Cups were held in Russia and Qatar because of their soccer tradition and wonderful cultures?
2. Those FIFA officials had arrived in the Meadowlands, eyed up all those gray seats at MetLife, and asked, “No, really, THIS is your stadium?”
Organizers of the NY/NJ bid were hoping for the best but preparing for bad news. Unlike Dallas, which had dozens of TV cameras at AT&T Stadium for a press conference in anticipation of good news, the MetLife contingent opted for a private party with no media presence. Officials worked quietly behind the scenes last week to deliver some preemptive damage control:
Hey, remember, this is going to be AWESOME even if New Jersey doesn’t get the final!
It was easy to understand the pessimism. Multiple outlets reported that FIFA already had selected Dallas, with Jones promising $350 million in improvements to AT&T Stadium. Then, of course, there were memories of the NJ Transit debacle after the Super Bowl at MetLife, which was held in East Rutherford 10 years ago last week.
Turns out, FIFA didn’t care about any of that. In the end, New York/New Jersey likely won for all the reasons it should have won. That even if Dallas has the better stadium, we’ve got every other imaginable advantage. The world’s biggest soccer championship deserves to be played in the world’s best city — and, yes, we mean East Rutherford.
Watching the folks in Dallas meltdown after Infantino, who appeared to be dressed in beige pajamas, made the “biggest announcement in the history of announcements,” was just an added bonus of a wonderful day. At that uncomfortable press conference, Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith spoke for his entire region.
“There is some disappointment here,” the Hall of Fame running back told reporters. “How do we lose to Jersey?”
Meanwhile, at the MetLife watch party, two songs played back to back on Murphy’s instructions — “Born To Run” and “New York, New York.” The party was just beginning, but so were the preparations to make sure the event is a success.
“It was a huge, huge win for Jersey and New York City,“ Murphy said. “I think (the legacy) will be a combination of hard assets that you can put your hand on, like pitches that will get built in communities that may not have had soccer pitches before. And it will be tens of thousands of little boys and girls who become enamored with the sport whereas they might not have otherwise given it that second look.”
That, really, only begins to explain how hosting an event of this magnitude will impact soccer in this state. Defying expectations, FIFA is bringing the biggest sporting event in the world to New Jersey in 2026. Buckle up, soccer fans, for a summer to remember.
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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com.