The men’s and women’s soccer tournaments during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be spread out across the United States, event organizers announced on Tuesday, including in venues as far east as New York and Nashville.
Both tournaments will take place across seven venues in total, nearly all of them stadiums that host MLS or NWSL teams. Only three – PayPal Park in the San Francisco area, Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena – will be in California. The other venues are stadiums that have opened in the last decade, including ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Energize Park in St. Louis and Geodis Park in Nashville. Etihad Park, located next to the New York Mets’ home of CitiField, is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in 2027.
The men’s and women’s competitions will move from east to west, progressively getting closer to the Olympics’ host city as each tournament progresses. The Rose Bowl will host both the men’s and women’s gold medal matches in late July.
For 2028, the women’s competition will expand to 16 teams while the men’s competition, which is contested by U-23 teams, will be reduced to 12 teams.
2028 Olympics soccer venues
- Energizer Park, St. Louis
- Etihad Park, New York
- Geodis Park, Nashville
- PayPal Park, San Jose
- Rose Bowl, Pasadena
- ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, Columbus
- Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
Soccer at the 2028 Olympics: key dates
Women’s soccer
- Group stage: July 13 – July 19
- Quarterfinals: July 22
- Semifinals: July 25
- Bronze medal match: July 28
- Gold medal match: July 29
Men’s soccer
- Group stage: July 12 – July 18
- Quarterfinals: July 21
- Semifinals: July 24
- Bronze medal match: July 27
- Gold medal match: July 28
A familiar footprint for Olympic soccer
The Olympic soccer tournaments are usually spread out across an entire host nation, the width of the geographic footprint often depending on the size of the country the competition takes place in that year. Six of the seven venues used during the 2024 Games in Paris, for example, were outside France’s capital, while five of the six stadiums used during the pandemic-delayed 2020 Games were outside of Tokyo. The U.S.’ geographic footprint, though, is more similar to Brazil, where five of the seven stadiums were outside of Rio de Janeiro.
Unlike the last three editions of the Games, though, the 2028 tournaments will not have any group stage games near the host city of Los Angeles. The metropolitan area is home to three professional soccer teams and two stadiums – BMO Stadium, located in Los Angeles and home of MLS’ LAFC and the NWSL’s Angel City, and Dignity Health Sports Park, home of MLS’ LA Galaxy. Neither venue will be available to host soccer matches for the 2028 Olympics, though – event organizers confirmed last year that BMO Stadium will be used for flag football and lacrosse, while Dignity Health Sports Park’s main stadium will host rugby sevens and archery.
The later stages of both the men’s and women’s soccer tournament, though, will convene at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, a site with a history of hosting some of the sport’s most important matches. It is the only stadium to host the final of the men’s soccer tournament at the Olympics and the final of the men’s and women’s World Cups – a U-23 France team won Olympic gold at the Rose Bowl in 1984, while Brazil won the men’s World Cup there in 1994 and the U.S. women’s national team won its second World Cup at the stadium in 1999.
