diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-26-12-00-00.gh-issue-153852.a1b2c3.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-26-12-00-00.gh-issue-153852.a1b2c3.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..7eae5d343cf213a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-26-12-00-00.gh-issue-153852.a1b2c3.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a free-threading race in finalization by asserting the thread list is non-empty only after stopping the world.
diff --git a/Python/pylifecycle.c b/Python/pylifecycle.c
index 01ca459b2eb2b8f..7ebde15b6b7e259 100644
--- a/Python/pylifecycle.c
+++ b/Python/pylifecycle.c
@@ -3827,8 +3827,8 @@ handle_thread_shutdown_exception(PyThreadState *tstate)
     assert(tstate != NULL);
     assert(_PyErr_Occurred(tstate));
     PyInterpreterState *interp = tstate->interp;
-    assert(interp->threads.head != NULL);
     _PyEval_StopTheWorld(interp);
+    assert(interp->threads.head != NULL);   /* safe: world is stopped */
 
     // We don't have to worry about locking this because the
     // world is stopped.