Jerry Jones ‘disappointed’ 2026 FIFA World Cup final won’t be in Dallas, says ‘it was a hell of a battle’

Jerry Jones and Dallas had designs on hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, but news came out on Sunday that Metlife Stadium in New Jersey has been chosen as the site of the final.

That came after a few media reports had emerged a few weeks back that AT&T Stadium was going to be selected to host the final.

Jones, the owner of the NFL‘s Dallas Cowboys, indicated the decision was a close one and he’s proud of Dallas’ efforts to land the most prestigious game in the world.

“What we had to sell was we believe that we represent, in the center of the country, what America’s about in our way,” Jones said. “And we believe we showed the future. And we tried to sell that. And we wanted the committee of them to buy into that as opposed to going to one of the other coasts, New York or Los Angeles. It was a hell of a battle. We almost got there.”

It’s certainly not a complete loss, as Dallas will still play host to nine World Cup games in the 2026 cycle. That will give local fans plenty of chances to attend games.

And Jones reiterated Dallas’ commitment to hosting those games in as first-class a manner as possible.

“I don’t want, in any way, from my perspective, to take away from how hard we’re going to work to make each one of these games notable beyond any other contest that we have,” Jones said. “So with that I’m going to be through. There’s a lot in me that because we didn’t get the final compels me to talk about what an unbelievable job was done to get us to the point to where we we’re sitting here thinking, ‘Well, we’re disappointed.’ And we are. No question about that. But only to the extent that that is a standing of today, not about what we’re going to be doing to these nine games.”

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted in three different countries, with games played in 16 different host cities. The United States, Canada and Mexico will all host games.

The 2026 tournament also has a new feature: There will be 48 teams, rather than the traditional 32.

The tournament will be organized into 12 groups of four teams, with round robin play determining which teams advance. The top two teams in each group, as well as the eight best third-place teams, will advance to the round of 32, a new knockout stage.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to begin on June 11, 2026 and last until July 19, 2026.