Sunday. MetLife Stadium. Three p.m. ET. England versus Spain for the 2026 World Cup. It is the final English football has waited sixty years for and the final Spanish football has spent sixteen years trying to get back to. Two winners of the last three major tournaments they entered, and two very different theories of how the game should be played. Here is how to watch it, what the pathway looked like, and the six questions that will decide who lifts the trophy.
How to watch the World Cup 2026 final
United States: FOX has the English-language broadcast, Telemundo the Spanish. Streaming lives on the FOX Sports and Peacock apps for authenticated cable, and on Fubo, YouTube TV, Hulu Live and Sling Blue for cord-cutters. Kick-off is 3 p.m. ET / 12 noon PT.
United Kingdom: For a men's World Cup final, both the BBC and ITV traditionally receive live rights. BBC One and ITV1 will both broadcast, with iPlayer and ITVX streaming. Kick-off is 8 p.m. BST โ a proper Sunday-night event.
Spain: RTVE and Telecinco carry the game free-to-air. Kick-off 9 p.m. CEST.
Canada: TSN, RDS and CTV split rights. Streaming on TSN.ca and TSN+.
How they got here
England came through with a Bellingham header and a Phil Foden 88th-minute curler to beat Netherlands 2-1 on Tuesday in Arlington. It was the Three Lions' second men's World Cup final in history โ the first since Wembley 1966 โ and Thomas Tuchel's tactical fingerprints are on the whole run. England have conceded four goals across the entire tournament and won every knockout match in ninety minutes.
Spain beat Norway 2-1 on Wednesday in Atlanta on the back of a Lamine Yamal opener, an Erling Haaland equaliser and an รlvaro Morata late header. It is Luis de la Fuente's second consecutive tournament final โ Spain won Euro 2024 in Berlin โ and Spain arrive with a seven-win, one-draw record and the tournament's highest expected-goals differential.
The six questions that decide it
1. Who wins the midfield spine? This is the game. Rodri versus Declan Rice for control of the six area, Pedri and Fabiรกn Ruiz versus Bellingham and Mainoo for the eight roles. Spain will want to build slowly and pin England into their own half; England will want to break Spanish possession with a Rice interception and go through Bellingham on the counter in six seconds.
2. Kane vs Laporte-Le Normand. Harry Kane has three goals at this tournament and is playing as much of a false nine as a target man under Tuchel. Aymeric Laporte's tendency to step out aggressively is the vulnerability โ the pattern that beat Spain in the 2023 Nations League final. Kane has the movement to punish that.
3. Yamal on the right. Lamine Yamal has been the tournament's most consistent creator on either flank. He will line up against Luke Shaw. If Shaw doubles onto him with Bellingham dropping to help, that opens the England midfield for Fabiรกn Ruiz to break the second line. If Shaw stays one-on-one, Yamal probably wins that repeatedly.
4. Set pieces both ways. Both teams have scored their share from dead balls in the knockouts โ England five, Spain three across the bracket. Kieran Trippier's inswingers and Dani Carvajal's short-corner routines are practiced patterns. Whichever set-piece coach loses this preparation loses probably the biggest single edge available.
5. Foden vs Pedri, but for pockets. Both play between the lines. Both hunt the same ten yards of space just in front of the opposing centre-backs. Whichever finds it more often ends up on the ball for the winning moment. Foden's 88th-minute strike in the semi says he is finding it right now.
6. Substitutions in extra time. The eleven-substitute rule means both benches will empty in the second half. Tuchel has Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Ivan Toney and Curtis Jones to bring on. De la Fuente has Ferran Torres, Mikel Merino and Dani Olmo. The tournament final is often decided by who has the fresher legs after 105 minutes. Both benches are excellent; both will need to be.
MetLife Stadium and conditions
MetLife holds 82,500 for a football configuration and will be full โ Spain and England fans have both descended on New York in force since Wednesday night. The pitch is grass laid over the venue's usual artificial base for the tournament, and the FIFA groundstaff have had six weeks and a lot of matches to figure out how it plays.
The New Jersey forecast for Sunday afternoon is roughly 85ยฐF (29ยฐC) with high humidity, partly cloudy skies, and a light east breeze off the Hudson. Not brutal by tournament summer standards, but hot enough that both benches will lean early on their cooling breaks. Advantage the deeper squad, which is a coin-flip.
The prediction, held loosely
Spain are the pre-match favourites for the same reason they were pre-match favourites all tournament: they have the ball more than anyone else, they have the best 18-year-old on the planet, and they have already navigated a France quarter-final and a Norway semi. England, though, are the tournament's most balanced side. Best midfield, best set-piece output, and a manager whose knockout record at previous tournaments (Bayern in 2020, PSG in 2023) is exceptional. Score prediction: 2-2 through 90 minutes, Spain edging it 3-2 in extra time. Ask again on Sunday and the answer might swap.
Third-place playoff: Netherlands vs Norway
Saturday July 18, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, kick-off 3 p.m. ET. Netherlands play Norway โ the two losing semifinalists, and both sides likely to rotate heavily. It is Norway's first ever appearance in a World Cup third-place playoff; Netherlands are here for the fourth time and have never won one. Coverage on FOX in the US, ITV1 in the UK.
FAQ
When is the 2026 World Cup final? Sunday July 19, 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. BST at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Who are the referees? The final referee is announced 48 hours in advance; watch our Scorelisto soccer page for confirmation once FIFA publish it.
What happens if the game is tied after 90 minutes? Two 15-minute periods of extra time. If still level, penalty shootout to decide the champion.
Are the trophy ceremonies happening at MetLife? Yes. The Golden Ball (best player), Golden Boot (top scorer) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) are all presented on the field immediately after the trophy lift.
When is the closing ceremony? A short closing sequence runs before kick-off at MetLife, around 2:30 p.m. ET. Not on the scale of the opening at Azteca, but expect artist performances and a highlights package.
Where can I get live scores during the final? Our Scorelisto soccer scores page will run minute-by-minute updates from both kick-off Saturday in Miami and Sunday in New Jersey.