Atlanta soccer fans can now lay claim to yet another bragging right. FIFA revealed on February 4th the specific venues for various matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been chosen for a whopping eight! The city will host five group stage matches, a round-of-32 match on July 1st, a round-of-16 match on July 7th, and a semi-final match on July 15th.
The opening match of the 2026 World Cup will be played down south of the border in Mexico at Estadio Azteca, while the final will be at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. While 2022’s World Cup blew away any and all metrics for viewership, the joint United States/Mexico/Canada World Cup in 2026 is expected to even eclipse Qatar’s. In fact, the 2022 World Cup had more viewers than the Summer Olympics, UEFA Champion’s League, Tour de France, NFL, Formula 1, and Rugby World Cup combined. With the addition of more teams, easier access to matches, and extended worldwide coverage, the 2026 World Cup is set to be the biggest sporting event in history.
The city of Atlanta will join an exclusive club of very few cities that have ever hosted both an Olympics and World Cup, and the spectacle is set to bring in $415 million in net economic benefit to this city alone.
As part of the hosting duties, the stadium will lay down grass early in 2026, which means the majority of Atlanta United’s MLS season will be played on real grass and not the typical turf.
Sydney and Tommy sat down just after the announcement to give their first reactions to the news (Tyler had events to attend but had his own reactions). Check out the video above and be sure to comment over on Youtube!
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