The draw for the FIFA 2026 Men’s World Cup will be held in Washington on December 5th. For the politicking, introduction of FIFA’s maiden ‘peace prize’, and expected attendance of Donald Trump to continue his Club World Cup romance with Gianni Infantino, there is still a great degree of excitement regarding what will come out of the hat.
FIFA’s first World Cup spread across three countries means teams and fans are at the mercy of the widest variety of possible travel yet; equally as one of sixteen host cities, Seattle awaits news of which nations will be headed their way.
Lumen Field hosted five matches at last [Northern] summer’s Club World Cup and will back up with a further six here, including the USA’s second Group Fixture and two knockout games.
‘It’s been a little surreal, we sort of have to pinch ourselves and remind ourselves that the World Cup is coming here. You know, we had the Club World Cup this last summer, though, and that gave us the first real sort of visceral sense of what it’s like when FIFA comes to town’, Jeremiah Oshan, local football writer with independent blog Sounder at Heart, told Box2Box.
‘Our expectation was there would be more of a slow, consistent drip of ‘oh, it’s coming’ – but I’ll be honest, I’m a little surprised at how not front of mind the World Cup has been, considering it’s the world’s biggest sporting event.
‘They keep saying it’s like having six Super Bowls come to your town in the course of a few weeks. So it’s been a little surreal to think how quickly this is going to kind of shift gears, because it is going to shift gears really soon.’
The USA becomes the sixth country to host the Men’s World Cup for a second time (Mexico will break new ground as they host a third), and so the question of whether the sport can dip into the tournament’s legacy a second time is pertinent. Like Australia – and perhaps nowhere else – US soccer is well back in the queue among a deeply crowded sporting market.
‘I don’t think we’ve come to terms with just how big of an impact this could have on the American soccer scene, just in terms of the way it could bring attention. You go back to 1994, the last time the World Cup was in the United States, there was no domestic first division league at the time.
‘The MLS was sort of founded as a promise of getting to the ‘94 World Cup, so you think about the impact that ultimately had. Here we are, 30-odd years later, and the MLS has become a huge entity where [some] teams are valued at a billion dollars.
‘It’s grown into quite a behemoth in some ways, compared to where it was. Still not on par with most of the other big American sports. But from where I sit now, it’s harder to see what the impact [this time] is going to be.’
The Club World Cup came and went, dogged initially by questions of its validity as a new tournament in an already-packed football calendar, then overshadowed almost entirely by the relationship between Trump and Infantino.
It culminated in Trump’s totally shameless determination to stand on the winner’s dais as Chelsea lifted the trophy – the trophy he declared he’d been told he’d be keeping at the White House, although whether Chelsea actually took a replica back to West London appears unverified.
That was a start-up tournament that held, at best, limited prior interest, and was therefore ripe for the insertion of targeted soft power. Whether the more esteemed, far more beloved, international World Cup will be similarly overshadowed is another question – although to this point, Oshan feels the duo are giving it a red hot shake.
‘You know, the political climate here in the United States is such that it does cast a sort of pall over everything that’s going on here, because our president has also turned this World Cup into a real political thing for him. And it’s become a little bit of a… it’s not just about sport right now, which is bad.
‘It’s a weird vibe right now. I don’t know how much people are aware of this, but traditionally, soccer has been sort of a very left-leaning sport in the United States. And it’s very popular in some of the more liberal cities like Seattle, Portland.
‘This is where soccer fans have traditionally been a lot more [openly] political in the stands, in supporters sections or whatnot. So having Trump be so outlandishly embracing this and making it about him… like the whole thing on stage with the Club World Cup trophy – he wouldn’t leave, he wanted to be the centrepiece of it all.
‘The way Infantino has sort of just been almost literally kissing the ring, I think, has definitely brought down the mood. Because it feels like Trump’s thing, and not so much the American people’s thing. And it’s certainly not, you know, the American soccer fans’ thing.’
Infantino’s latest act of ring kissing was last week’s announcement of FIFA’s newly created ‘peace prize’, to be awarded annually to ‘individuals who help unite people in peace through unwavering commitment and special actions.’
As pointed out in a recent Guardian editorial, there is a distinct contrast between this messaging around ‘togetherness’ and ‘hope for future generations’ and that which FIFA are sending to fans, given the decision to let dynamic ticket pricing for the tournament run unfettered. Having recently removed a cap on resale values – where FIFA takes a cut – some tickets can now be yours, for just $25,000 USD.
‘I think that some of that is inevitably going to go away once we get closer to this but in the lead up, it’s an inescapable kind of bummer. You know, eight months away from this thing, the fact there isn’t this outlandish excitement about it all, is sort of a surreal experience.’
Oshan is still confident those who find their way to Seattle – with another host city in Vancouver easily accessible via road, rail or catamaran – will be thankful their team was assigned to his city.
‘I genuinely believe the Pacific north-west between Vancouver and Seattle is going to end up being one of the real stars of this tournament. Most stadiums are these massive NFL stadiums not always really in the city centre, whereas Vancouver and Seattle are really right downtown.
‘I say this as someone who can be a little cynical: the waterfront is an unbelievable civic treasure. They’ve done a lot of work in the last ten years – it’s a much more pedestrian-friendly space, with a lot of activities going on there.
‘It’s absolutely gorgeous, beautiful. It connects to Pike Place, which is the famous outdoor market here. Because it’s downtown, you’ll have access to some really wonderful food and nightlife. I really do believe that teams that are lucky enough to draw Seattle are going to be really happy to spend some time here.’