The World Cup final comes to the New York region
MetLife Stadium hosted the championship match of the first 48-team tournament, a global spectacle on the city's doorstep.
The New York region took centre stage in the world of sport this summer as MetLife Stadium, just across the Hudson River in New Jersey, hosted the final of the FIFA World Cup, the championship match of the first tournament to feature 48 teams, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The final capped a month-long festival of football that had gripped the region and the country, with matches drawing enormous crowds and fans from around the world flooding into New York to soak up the atmosphere. The city's hotels, restaurants and bars overflowed, and public viewing areas drew huge, boisterous crowds.
Hosting the final placed the New York area at the heart of the planet's most-watched sporting event, a global spectacle witnessed by hundreds of millions of viewers. The region had mobilised for months to handle the crowds, security and logistics of such a massive event.
For the city, the tournament was a showcase on the world stage and a significant economic boost, drawing international visitors and spending, and cementing its status as a premier destination for major global events.
The sea of fans in team colours filling the streets, and the roar that greeted the final whistle, captured the unifying power of the game and the city's capacity to host the world. For one summer, the eyes of the planet turned to New York and its neighbours, and the region rose to the occasion.