Vancouver Offers to Host More 2026 FIFA World Cup Games

The Premier of British Columbia has told FIFA that Vancouver is ready and willing to host extra matches in the 2026 World Cup should concerns continue about excessive heat that has been an issue at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup as well as the ongoing political tensions between the three co-host countries.

B.C. Place Stadium is scheduled to host seven matches, including two of Canada’s group games and a Round of 32 game and Round of 16 game.

“Additional games in British Columbia would not only be possible, but they would be incredibly welcome,” said B.C. Premier David Eby. “We’ve actually written to FIFA to say if for whatever reason they need to move games from any other locations, British Columbia stands ready to host. “We can move quickly. We have an amazing team and we are ready to host additional games here in this beautiful province.”

Eby’s comments were made last week. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that FIFA president Gianni Infantino received a letter signed by over 90 civil society groups expressing “deep concern” about immigration policies and enforcement measures in the United States with a number of countries on a current travel ban list from the Trump administration with the potential for dozens more to be added.

The heat for games played in the middle of the day has become a big storyline throughout the tournament. Fifpro, the global players union, has said halftime should be extended to 20 minutes because of the heat at several sites for the tournament. Storms have caused six games in different cities to be suspended during the tournament.

How The Club World Cup Affects 2026 Planning

Infantino has placed a lot of his reputation on the tournament’s success, making sure his name is on the winner’s trophy multiple times and having FIFA call it a “prime club competition.” Jürgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager and now head of global soccer for Red Bull, this week called it “the worst idea ever implemented in football.”

FIFA placed the event in the United States in the hopes of promoting next summer’s World Cup and heightening its anticipation. Reaction leading to this summer’s tournament ahead of the games was focused more off the field and, in some minds, taken FIFA’s attention from next summer at a time where every day matters.

Twelve stadiums are being used for the expanded 32-team tournament including five of the 11 U.S. venues for the 2026 World Cup: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; MetLife Stadium; Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida; Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and Lumen Field in Seattle.

“Every time you host an event, whether or not it’s a concert, whether or not it’s a parade, whether or not it’s a road race, or a major sporting event, you’re going to learn something,” Metro Atlanta Chamber President Katie Kirkpatrick said. “So it’s certainly going to be instructive. It’s going to give some insights into some things, but it is not of the same scale as the World Cup. … at the end of the day, we’re going to be focused on 2026 and making sure we have a great experience.”

That sentiment is shared by the U.S. host cities this summer, who are not involved per se in the planning and organization of Club World Cup because they are focused instead on next summer.

“Having the semifinals and the finals is going to be a great way for us to kind of see how everything operates as a host committee,” said New York/New Jersey Host Committee CEO Alex Lasry, the site of the semifinals and finals this summer and then next summer’s World Cup final. But he admitted “it’s not apples to apples, right? The Club World Cup, just because it’s run by FIFA and has World Cup in it, doesn’t make it the same thing as the World Cup. The World Cup’s the biggest event in the world. So there is nothing comparable.”

The congested calendar of soccer this summer includes the Club World Cup, plus the Concacaf Gold Cup, before you even get to the traditional slate of summer friendlies.

“I think we’ve all done a good job in our markets to do the best we can to educate folks on the differences,” said Chris Canetti, Houston Host Committee president. “There’s a lot of confusion that comes about with the two tournaments being one year after the next and I know that’s something that all of us have had to take on as part of our responsibilities to communicate to our sponsors, the community, and others, the difference between the two.”

Other Club World Cup sites include the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, site of the 1994 World Cup final, and Camping World Stadium in Orlando, another 1994 World Cup site. The MLS venues are Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte; TQL Stadium in Cincinnati; Geodis Park in Nashville; Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando and Audi Field in Washington.

MetLife Stadium hosts the semifinals on July 8–9 and the championship on July 13.

“Anytime you get a major sports and entertainment event that’s run by the same people that are going to be running the World Cup, it allows us to work together, see how everyone operates and start to work some of those cobwebs off so that we’re ready and already have a rhythm by the time we get to the World Cup,” Lasry said.

Plenty of Issues in Leadup

Given the reach in the U.S. of many European mega-clubs, having names such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the competition are crucial to the Club World Cup’s success. But there is no Barcelona in this tournament, or Manchester United.

The Club World Cup also draws teams from all of FIFA’s confederations including parts of the world where there are visa processing delays. President Donald Trump’s travel bans aren’t exactly reassuring international fans, either, as well as fears that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection would be doing security at games. The U.S. Travel Association has urged the Trump administration to improve such things as visa processing and customs wait times.

Then there is the ticketing saga. FIFA started the ticketing process with prices charitably described as expensive and in many corners described as exorbitant (if you think the latter, just wait until prices for the World Cup tickets are revealed).

For Inter Miami’s opening game against Al-Ahly, ticket prices started in December at $349, then dropped a bit, then dropped significantly in the days to $55 in sections before the game in an attempt to pack the stadium. The whole mess was succinctly described by The Athletic here.

The Early Impressions

Miami’s opener was a scoreless draw but in a fairly full Hard Rock Stadium with no wide gaps of open seats. Saturday’s Rose Bowl clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid started out in front of a small crowd but ended up with more than 80,000 in attendance.

While FIFA has billed the tournament as the best club teams in the world, there already has been evidence for that to be not the case. Bayern Munich won its opening match 10-0 against an overmatched Auckland City of New Zealand in a game that drew over 21,000 in Cincinnati but marked mostly but Bayern fans unfurling a banner referring to the infamous FIFA raids of a decade ago, proclaiming ‘10 Years Baur Au Lac — World Football is More Poorly Governed than Before! Smash FIFA!’

The New York/New Jersey opener drew 46,275 for Palmeiras vs. FC Porto, a crowd that could be kindly described as having a late-season New York Jets feel to it and got more attention for postgame when those involved said the new grass field was not up to par, an issue that will surely be watched closely next year with the number of venues that will need new surfaces installed.

One of the key aspects of the Club World Cup from the U.S. soccer fan point of view is how Major League Soccer’s competing sides will do and after Inter Miami’s draw in the opening match, the Seattle Sounders lost at home 2-1 to Brazilian power Botafogo in front of 30,151 at Lumen Field, a total about par for the Sounders’ home MLS games this season. It is worth noting that according to the Seattle Times, the Sounders offered two free tickets to Sunday’s game for anyone who had “purchased tickets through the club during the presale period.”

Among the other schedule of games was highlighted by Chelsea of the Premier League beating Major League Soccer’s LAFC 2-0 in Atlanta; having LAFC play across the country instead of, say, the Rose Bowl was due to the club’s late inclusion into the field and having the game in the middle of the afternoon local time (better for European TV broadcast windows) led to a dead atmosphere with an announced crowd of 22,137 that in reality was several thousands less. Boca Juniors of Argentina were smartly placed in Miami for its game against Portugal’s Benfica, a 2-2 draw with 55,574 on hand. The Philadelphia matchup of Brazil’s Flamengo and Tunisia’s ES Tunis drew 25,797 for Flamengo’s 2-0 win.

Remaining Club World Cup Schedule

July 1: Real Madrid vs. Juventus, 1 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
July 1: Borussia Dortmund vs. Monterrey, 7 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
July 4: Quarterfinal, Fluminense vs. Al Hilal, 1 p.m. at Camping World Stadium, Orlando
July 4: Quarterfinal, Palmeiras vs. Chelsea, 7 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
July 5: Quarterfinal, Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munch, 10 a.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
July 5: Quarterfinal, Teams TBD, 2 p.m. at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
July 8: Semifinal, 1 p.m. at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
July 9: Semifinal, 1 p.m. at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
July 13: Championship, 1 p.m. at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey