New York is already experiencing Sunday’s final. The MetLife Stadium will be packed (82,500 spectators) to see the final of the first ever major Club World Cup. There is a large Chelsea contingent in New York, and the stands will be divided. There is much more passion for the Premier League in the Big Apple, but Luis Enrique’s side, because of their dominance this season, also attracts neutral supporters… but on Sunday they will be supporting them.
We said New York, when we really meant New Jersey, as the MetLife Stadium, which will also host the final of the 2026 World Cup, is located in this town, just half an hour, without traffic, from Manhattan.
That’s why the new Etihad Park, the new home of New York City FC (the ‘Yankee’ franchise of the English club), will be the only soccer-specific stadium in New York City. We spoke with those in charge at NYC’s headquarters on Fifth Avenue and they explained the project to us.
Etihad Park will see the light of day in 2027, to start that MLS season, and although it will have only 25,000 spectators, it promises to be one of the most modern stadiums in this country with so many good venues.
The home of the ‘Yankee City’ is being built in the borough of Queens, very close to the US Open and LaGuardia Airport. The Etihad will be a charming, 100% electric stadium (the first in the whole country), which will have around it 2,500 new homes, a school for 650 children, a hotel, several parks… In short, a whole sporting and social ecosystem to house the new jewel of the City Group.
Evidently, the Etihad could never host a World Cup final (it has such a small capacity because it is designed for MLS) but it will have the exclusivity of soccer, in a city, New York, with so much sporting offer. But, for that, for a final, we already have the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
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