Here’s where Central Kentucky soccer fans must travel to watch 2026 World Cup games
The world’s biggest sporting event will return to the United States in summer 2026, but Central Kentucky residents will have to make significant travel plans in order to watch a FIFA Men’s World Cup match in person.
On Thursday evening, FIFA announced the host cities and stadiums for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with Cincinnati and Nashville both missing the cut.
Soccer’s international governing body selected the following cities for hosting duties:
▪ Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
▪ Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Mexico.
▪ Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco (Bay Area) and Seattle in the United States.
All games hosted in the United States are expected to be played in stadiums primarily used by NFL teams.
These cities were selected from a short list of 22 cities, which featured three from Canada, three from Mexico and 16 from the United States.
Missing the cut were:
▪ Edmonton in Canada.
▪ Baltimore/Washington D.C. (joint bid), Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville and Orlando in the United States.
The two closest cities to Lexington that were up for selection — Cincinnati (about 83 miles away) and Nashville (about 215 miles away) — both missed the cut for hosting duties.
As such, the closest city to Lexington that was awarded hosting duties for the 2026 World Cup was Atlanta (about 380 miles away).
This isn’t the first time Central Kentucky soccer fans will be forced to travel long distances to take in a World Cup match.
In 1994, when the United States first hosted the World Cup, the nearest cities to Lexington that hosted matches were Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, which are both about 370 miles away.
Neither Chicago, nor Detroit (which Pontiac is a northern suburb of), submitted a bid to host games in the 2026 World Cup.
2026 World Cup format, scheduling
The 2026 World Cup will be the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, an increase of 16 teams from the current format that features 32.
The tournament format will also change, going from eight groups with four teams in each during group stage play, to 16 groups with three teams in each.
There will be 80 matches played during the 2026 World Cup.
According to American soccer journalist Grant Wahl, Canada and Mexico are expected to host 10 games each, with the United States set to host the remaining 60 games, including all matches from the quarterfinals onward.
Also according to Wahl, FIFA will likely announce which cities will host the 2026 World Cup’s opening game, semifinals and finals sometime in 2023.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition of the tournament hosted by three countries.
2026 will also mark the 250th-year celebration of the United States.
In the more immediate future, the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup will take place this November and December in Qatar.
The United States’ group stage matches will be Nov. 21 against Wales, Nov. 25 against England and Nov. 29 against Iran.
Pro soccer comes to Lexington next spring
Locally, professional soccer will be making its return to Central Kentucky next spring.
Lexington Sporting Club — which encompasses a wide range of youth teams and plans to field senior men’s and women’s teams — will have its senior men’s team begin play in USL League One starting in spring 2023.
USL League One is the third-highest tier of professional soccer in the United States. LSC has not yet announced a venue for where games will be played.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 5:16 AM.
