Editor’s note: This article was written by Alex Silverman and Ben Fischer and first appeared in Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading source of sports business news, events and data.
Nearly two months after FIFA chose the U.S. to host the 2025 Club World Cup, the American cities slated to host the following year’s national team World Cup remain in the dark about what role, if any, they are expected to play in the expanded club tournament. It’s just the latest point of frustration for 2026 local organizers, who have been complaining for months about FIFA’s communication and slower-than-expected progress in preparing for the massive event.
FIFA didn’t give the 11 American World Cup host committees any advance notice before revealing in June that the U.S. would host a major 32-team event roughly 12 months before co-hosting global soccer’s largest event in 2026 with Canada and Mexico. Instead, the city leaders found out through media reports. Eight weeks later, several host cities confirmed they still haven’t heard anything from FIFA beyond the initial announcement. Another source said FIFA has been in touch with a few non-World Cup host cities about the year-earlier event.
The surprise Club World Cup announcement came just weeks after the abrupt departure from FIFA of World Cup COO Colin Smith, the lead executive overseeing the planning of the 2026 World Cup. That news came as a surprise to the host cities, who found out the morning that Sports Business Journal broke the news. FIFA confirmed to SBJ that Heimo Schirgi, who took over for Smith on an interim basis, has now been given the role on a full-time basis.
In a written statement to SBJ, FIFA said details for the 2025 Club World Cup “are being developed and will be announced in due course, including potential host cities, venues, and fan and commercial elements of the competition.” The governing body added that it is “engaging with the relevant stakeholders to finalize the details,…
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