The organizers of the 2026 World Cup, which is set to be held in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, have made requests for regular top European games to be played in the United States.
Presently, top European teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Barcelona are in the U.S. to take part in friendly games ahead of the new season in August.
In 2014, 109,000 fans turned up at Michigan Stadium to watch Real Madrid take on Manchester United in the International Champions Cup game. A match that set the record attendance for a football game in the U.S.
According to ESPN, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, who was a part of the team that secured world cup games in the country that will be held in 2026, appealed to UEFA to stage regular season games in the U.S.
“I know that the clubs have not been wild about that in Europe, but I’d love to think that it would happen. You would have Barcelona playing Real Madrid in New Jersey at some point in a regular season or in a Champions League game. I would love that.
“It would be overwhelming. To have a Champions League game, you wouldn’t be able to get near it.”
Recall that UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin earlier revealed plans to play the Champions League final in the U.S. have been discussed.
“It’s possible. We started to discuss about that but then one year it was the World Cup, [20]24 is Euro, this year [the final] is [in] Istanbul, ’24 is London and ’25 is Munich and after that, let’s see.”
Čeferin also revealed that football is popular in the United States, and fans in the country will be willing to pay to watch the best of the teams compete.