Warm in the USA

The World Club Cup (WCC) has provided FIFA with a pretty good dress rehearsal for next year’s global shindig when a record 48 nations descend on North America. There will be 104 matches played over five weeks.

That’s a lot of games. And a lot of fans.

I was lucky enough to work at the last World Cup in Qatar. And while the layout couldn’t be more different (Qatar was like playing a World Cup in Yorkshire but with better weather and worse puddings, whereas the 2026 version will be played across 16 venues and three countries (the US, Mexico and Canada) it doesn’t mean that there aren’t lessons to be learned from that competition and the most recent one.

And while sticky pitches, balls bouncing like rabbits and Donald Trump all created some on the field issues this summer, I’ve focussed this article purely on fan-related aspects of the ‘greatest show on earth’.

Travel

The stadiums in Qatar sat within a 43-mile radius. Some were so close you could actually see the floodlights at the other venues. Getting to games, via the almost brand new and fantastically-staffed Metro network was incredibly easy. It was possible – if not advisable – to attend all three games played on one day. That was, for fans, close to football-Nirvana. But also a one-off that is unlikely to ever be repeated.

Fans will have to be prepared for some serious travel in North America. A whole continent and three countries will create massive logistical challenges. When Chelsea finished as runners-up in their WCC Group, they had to play the last-16 match in Charlotte rather than Miami – the venue if they’d won it. That was a teeny change of plans; a mere 730 miles (give or take) to negotiate for their fans, as well as a very different night life, but in the World Cup, if fans had to shuttle from Vancouver to Mexico City, we’re talking almost 5,000 miles.

But the bigger concerns crop up nearer the stadiums. In the WCC, some stadiums required fans to walk for 20-30 minutes from the nearest public transport station, or else rely on Ubers. It might not seem like that far to walk, but even a journey of half that time can feel a lot longer in temperatures that exceed 35 degrees. And whether it be Doha, New Jersey or Lyon (where the 2019 Women’s World Cup semi-finals took place) one consistent problem at those venues was the lack of water available along the route. That feels like Stadium Policy 101 but I can assure you it wasn’t.

Stadiums

It doesn’t automatically get better when fans get to the stadium itself. In Qatar there was a distinct oversight when it came to providing adequate protection from the sun, and this could again prove to be problematic in the summer of 2026.

It’s all very well having fan zones (or tailgates as we’ll no doubt call them next year) outside the stadiums to keep people entertained and giving them a good reason to arrive much earlier, but if fans are then exposed to extreme heat and have little or no shade, it can be extremely dangerous. This needs to be factored in now if it hasn’t already. A supply of water and sunscreen is also a must. It sounds obvious, but as mentioned, neither were in great supply in 2022 and very few stadiums had zones – or even stadium vicinities – that offered much cover.

Having indoor activations is advised. That will also give fans cover from bad weather, which we’ll look at next.

Weather

It’s easy to think the heat and sun will create problems for fans, but it’s not the only way the weather can have an impact. As extreme weather conditions continue to impact the world, the WCC has seen some matches delayed for up to two hours by storms and lightning.

It’s unusual to get that in Europe, although some games at Euro2024 were affected by storms, so managing expectations is going to be crucial in 2026. Even the clubs and managers didn’t expect it or know how it would be handled in the WCC. Winning coach, Enzo Maresco, complained when Chelsea’s win against Benfica took over 4 hours to complete. But that’s the law in the US and it’s important fans know what might happen, and have something to do besides just wait around for the players to come back out.

Some US sports – baseball and NFL games in particular – can take several hours, so it’s not a big deal for fans based there, but fans from other parts of the world are more used to arriving nearer the kick-off, seeing a 90-100 minute games and leaving shortly thereafter. If they might be there for 5-6 hours all in, it’s important that there are things to do, entertainment to fill the lightning gaps and plenty of places to shelter too (although stadiums with a roof will help). It didn’t happen in the WCC, but there remains the possibility next year that a game is unable to restart – especially if it’s an evening game – until the next day. That’s a nightmare scenario but with over 100 games, it’s feasible it will happen at least once and there has to be a really good plan – and great comms - in place.

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Kick-off times

It had been suggested that they might want to start the New Jersey World Cup Final on 19 July 2026 at 0900 local time. Games kicking off to suit European broadcasting times will mean that games in cities like Miami, Guadalajara, Dallas and New York might kick off during the hottest part of the day and that is going to test the safety procedures in place for players and fans.

There is scope to make changes and interestingly, none of the night games were affected by storms in the WCC. But FIFA and the broadcasters don’t like having games played at the same time, so it seems inevitable that they’ll stick to that and take their chances.

The players are likely to cope, as they have this summer, despite the heat and humidity making life difficult at times. They are high performance athletes, but fans might struggle unless the stadiums are air-conditioned. Given the large increase in medical emergencies inside stadiums, this might be an area where the authorities, organisers and stadium officials have to think carefully about how they play it next year. One death is one too many.

Pricing / Marketing

The FIFA secretary said – in a 5 minute TalkSport interview when asked about the WCC – the words full andstadiums at least four times. They weren’t. The average across the competition was just under 40,000. Still really good, but some venues were too big for the interest levels, others failed to market the games well enough and others had games that were low-profile and kicked off on a weekday afternoon. One game had 3,000 fans, while there were about a million empty seats across the tournament so there is, quite literally, room for improvement.

An immediate fix is to get the pricing right. Some games had tickets costing hundreds of dollars when they went on sale, using the dynamic pricing model favoured in US sports, but this feels like a misstep for the World Cup organisers if they stick with it in 2026.

Fans who go to World Cups do so by making great sacrifices. In Qatar I spoke to some Argentinians who sold the family car to make the trip, and then only for one game and that was against Saudi Arabia. How’s their luck by the way?

So to have to fork out massively high prices for the games feels wrong, especially if real fans are priced out of games. In the WCC the pricing got very dynamic too, with some tickets selling for $200 to begin with, then for as little as $8 by the day of the game. FIFA want fans to buy tickets in advance so they should make prices realistic. Or fans might wait to see what happens. Imagine if you paid $250 and then realised that you could have paid a tenth of that? That’s not the way to do it, and penalising real fans who purchase early is surely the opposite of what the organisers want to achieve?

The good news; there is plenty of time to get it right. But also plenty of time to balls it up completely. A year is a long time in football, but in Qatar, there were large gaps in the fan experience that were highlighted in the opening ceremony and first few games, so it would be complacent to think that ‘they’ll think of everything’.

But I really hope that they do.