WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Cup finals will kick off next July 19 at 3 p.m. EDT at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
FIFA announced the start times for the tournament’s 104 matches on Saturday. The day after the lottery Ahead of the tournament, which has expanded to include 48 countries. The kickoff time will allow primetime viewing at 9pm in Europe and 8pm in the UK.
According to AccuWeather, the average temperature for July 19th in East Rutherford at 3:00 pm over the past 30 years is 83 degrees (28 degrees Celsius), with a RealFeel Index of 89 (32).
Nine of the 10 World Cup finals from 1978 to 2014 started between 2:00 PM and 3:30 PM EDT, with the exception of the 2002 tournament in Japan, which started at 7:00 AM EDT. The 2018 finals began at 11 a.m. ET, and the 2022 tournament championship moved to the Qatari winter at 10 a.m. ET.
The 1994 Finals, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, kicked off at 12:30 PM local time (3:30 PM EDT).
The World Cup opener, El Tri vs. South Africa, will be held in Mexico City on June 11th, starting at 1pm local time (3pm EDT).
The semifinals will begin on July 14th at 2pm (3pm ET) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and the following day at 3pm at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, both of which have retractable roofs.
FIFA announced this on February 4th last year. The finals are scheduled for New Jersey. June 12th, site-specific matches revealed New round of 32, round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
78 games, including all games after the quarterfinals, will be played in the United States, with 13 games each in Canada and Mexico.
During the event at the Capital Hilton, FIFA also announced the venues for the 54 group stage matches that were not finalized in Friday’s draw, but only Groups A, B and D have been decided, including co-hosts Mexico, Canada and the United States.
South Korea is the only team other than Canada and Mexico without a game in the United States, opening the season against the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland or North Macedonia in Guadalajara, before playing El Tri at the same venue and finishing the round against South Africa in Monterrey.
The United States’ first round games will begin on June 12th with a 6pm local kickoff (9pm ET) against Paraguay in Inglewood, a noon kickoff against Australia seven days later in Seattle (3pm ET), and a 7pm kickoff against Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo on June 25th at SoFi.
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