On the heels of what’s anticipated to be the biggest World Cup in history, questions remain about whether the United States is suited to host the tournament. Alongside Canada and Mexico, the United States will host the 2026 World Cup, which is expected to be the most attended ever, which would break the record held by the 1994 World Cup, hosted by, you guessed it, the United States. Nearly 2 million tickets have already been sold for the tournament ahead of Friday’s draw, and the expansion to 48 teams will mean more training sites, more fans, more games, and also more stress tests for the host nations.
The Club World Cup during the summer of 2025 gave a glimpse of what to expect at the World Cup, and that raised concerns, but on the bright side, they’re concerns that can be worked through. A tournament that was saved by the soccer, it saw displays of fan passion but didn’t come without hiccups, including flares in stadiums, complaints about pitch quality, and even how to put on a Beyonce concert one day and a soccer tournament the next.
It’s a tournament that was a spectacle both on and off the pitch, and while it was marked as being a trial run for the World Cup, it was also the biggest Club World Cup ever and a serious tournament that had to be put on.
“Despite some comments that this is kind of a test event, this is not. This is the biggest Club World Cup ever made, and we are really happy to have the chance to experience first hand what’s going to be happening next year, but anyway, for us, we’re not testing anything,” Luis Castro, FIFA Match Director in New Jersey at MetLife, said during the competition.
While organizers say it wasn’t a test, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t lessons learned that can be taken to the World Cup. Six Club World Cup Stadiums will also host matches next summer — Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Lumen Field in Seattle, the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The World Cup host committees from each stadium weren’t involved in the planning for the Club World Cup, but the impact of fans in attendance was felt in each stadium.
“The 80,619 fans who attended the Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atlético de Madrid at the Rose Bowl are part of the tournament’s largest attendance to date and a testament to the region’s passion for the game. “As one of North America’s premier soccer cities, LA continues to demonstrate its readiness to host the world,” Jason Krutzsch, vice president at Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, said.
The fans were what helped make the tournament, from Boca Juniors fans taking over everywhere they went to the success of Brazilian teams and Auckland City FC, but on the pitch, there’s food for thought.
Grass is king
Playing surfaces have been an experience for FIFA due to the varied climates that the United States has to offer. Not only are some stadiums domed, but some have heat followed by summer thunderstorms, while others have dry heat with no water. What was seen as a one-size-fits-all situation where grass is added to a football stadium was far from it.
“For the Club World Cup, you have a stadium in Seattle. And I go, cliche, you know, for that point where it rains a whole lot, and is totally different than from Miami, with the humidity and the heat and the rain every day is totally different from Kansas City, you know, where it is predominantly hot, and then you go to an indoor stadium where it’s air conditioned, totally different weather,” AMB Sports and Entertainment COO Dietmar Exler of the Atlanta organizing group said. “Humidity in the building is controlled, so everybody has a different setup. And it was as much a learning experience for FIFA as for us.”
The grass had to be specific for each venue, with some, such as MetLife, needing a durable surface that can drain while also withstanding the summer sun beating down on it, but others, like Atlanta, didn’t need the same requirements due to the roof. Grow lamps had never been used in Atlanta, but they were able to test and tweak things in order to create a playing surface that worked.
FIFA went into this open to learn from the conditions, and while there were complaints about things such as the bounce of the ball in certain stadiums, that’s something that will also be looked at to ensure consistency during the World Cup.
“That was part of hosting here as well, and that research piece wasn’t just 12 months, it’ll be 24 months, so we’ll report post this tournament, and there will be a lot of takeaways from this six-week period in the stadium going forward to 2026 as well,” MetLife pitch venue manager Blair Christensen said during the Club World Cup.
Learning about pitch conditions ahead of time is something that will go a long way to ensuring that FIFA and the host cities can create the best pitches possible in each stadium.
Flares: Fun for fans, a nightmare for attendance
Fans bringing flares into stadiums, while it was a show of passion, is also something that can cause big issues. When Wydad faced Manchester City in Philadelphia during the Club World Cup, a flare came onto the pitch, landing right behind Ederson in the net. While the flare didn’t hit the former city keeper, it does show the dangers of them being allowed into stadiums during tournaments of this magnitude.
“We took the security team, and Chuck Huma, our head of security, pushed for that very hard. We went over to Germany, spent time with the German Bundesliga. We spent time in England at Manchester United in their stadium to go over everything. And we were well set up. We had no flares used in our building,” Exler said.
“But by the way, we have big boxes of flares collected. We did, you know, the thorough pat down of the fans when they came into the stadium, and then again, you know, when you reach the fan sections, we did another check. We had no flares.”
Flares are fun to see in matches, but only when they’re properly organized, and things like that, and pitch invaders are something that FIFA will need to keep a tight lid on during the World Cup. Copa America issues, such as fans getting into the stadiums without tickets, were already avoided by clear security perimeters around each match and multiple ticket checks. Those will only be stronger as the World Cup rolls into town because it’s a mix of displaying passion while also ensuring that it’s a family-friendly environment for all in attendance.
Embracing the global fandom is key to success
The fans will be the key to the World Cup, especially when it comes to how cities prepare for languages that they don’t see often. The official languages of FIFA are English, French, German, and Spanish, but during the Club World Cup, plenty of cities also had to accommodate fans whose primary language was Arabic. When it’s not easy to get to some of these stadiums, it’s critical that signage is updated with important information, and cities are preparing for that ahead of the World Cup draw.
“Based on the feedback we have received thus far and what our team experienced, one of the biggest opportunities is in how we can help educate our residents and businesses about how the fans coming here truly ‘fan.’ Our goal is to create an unforgettable fan experience that is both rooted in strong, advanced preparation and responsive to fan and resident needs,” Meg Kane, Philadelphia Host City executive/CEO for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, said. “We will consider every possible touchpoint — from multilingual signage to cultural competency training to where and how fans will seek out pre-and-post-match pints. There will be unique customs and cultural differences that we will need to navigate, from tipping to tailgating, and the FIFA Club World Cup 25 served as an incredible learning experience for us as a host city.”
Preparing not only fans but also city staff for different cultures is something that will need to be done to know when something may be a cultural difference as opposed to a potential issue. Cities can better prepare for these aspects once the draw happens and they know who is coming to their cities, but this is one of the biggest keys to a successful World Cup.
With the ticket prices around the tournament, fan fests, dining, hospitality, and how people interact when they aren’t at games is what will determine if it’s a success for these cities. Fan experiences from the Club World Cup resonated in host cities, and if the same happens during the World Cup, it could easily be the biggest World Cup ever.
