For the next six weeks, New Jersey will become the center of the sports world. The World Cup begins Thursday, and the tournament’s championship match will be played just 12 miles from Montclair at MetLife Stadium. Between the 1.2 million visitors to the region, the traffic, the international media, the watch parties and the economic impact, this isn’t just a Meadowlands story. It’s a Montclair story, too. Here’s the recap.
1. What is the World Cup and why does everyone lose their minds over it?
The FIFA World Cup is the international soccer tournament held every four years, where national teams, not club teams, compete for the sport’s highest prize. The 2022 final between Argentina and France drew 1.42 billion viewers worldwide. That is roughly 11 times the audience for last year’s Super Bowl.
This edition is the largest ever. For the first time, 48 national teams compete instead of 32, producing 104 matches across the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is also the first World Cup co-hosted by three countries. The tournament runs from June 11 through July 19.
2. How does the tournament work?
The 48 teams are divided into 12 groups of four. Each team plays three group-stage matches; the top two from each group advance, along with the eight best third-place finishers, to a round of 32. From there it is a straight knockout: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. More teams mean more matches, a longer tournament and more chances for the kind of upset that makes the whole world stop.
3. Who are the favorites and where does the U.S. stand?
France, Brazil and England enter as the teams most analysts expect to contend. Defending champion Argentina is always in the conversation. Any of a dozen national teams could realistically reach the final.
The United States Men’s National Team is playing at home under manager Mauricio Pochettino, which carries both opportunity and weight in equal measure. The roster includes Park Ridge, N.J., native Matt Turner in goal, a goalkeeper who built himself into a World Cup starter through years of development in the region’s soccer pipeline. This is the USMNT’s best shot in a generation to make a deep run.
4. Why does any of this matter to New Jersey specifically?
New Jersey isn’t just hosting several games and the finals. Four national teams, Brazil, Morocco, Senegal and Haiti, are training at facilities in the statee. The official World Cup press corps is headquartered at Montclair State University. The projected regional economic impact is $3.3 billion, and the state put $5 million in grants toward community events statewide, including right here in Montclair.
The lead-up has not been without friction. NJ Transit’s round-trip fare for match days started at $150 before settling at $98, still seven times the standard cost. A proposed Meadowlands district tax surcharge collapsed under bipartisan pushback. Municipalities can extend bar hours during the tournament under a Gov. Sherrill proclamation, though each town decides independently. The stadium has no parking on match days.
For what all of this means in practice for Montclair commuters, homeowners and local businesses, we covered it in depth here.
5. What Events Are happening in New Jersey and Montclair Specifically?
The local picture is detailed in our complete World Cup guide, which covers where to watch, where to eat and how to get to MetLife. The short version: several Montclair businesses are already programming around the tournament, and the window is still open for more. The International Food and Dance Festival at Lackawanna Station on July 12 is the town’s own grant-funded celebration of the moment. Montclair’s Pride Festival was moved to Aug. 1 after running into the complications of a World Cup summer, a reminder that the tournament’s reach extends well beyond match days.
For 39 days, New Jersey is the center of the world’s most-watched sporting event, and Montclair sits squarely in that footprint.
Get behind the USMNT and follow the full schedule at FIFA.com. And if you are coming in from out of town for a match, welcome. You picked a good part of New Jersey to be in this summer.
Image credit: Unsplash/Igor Batista
