Irvine is among the many cities that FIFA is thinking about using as a host location for the soccer teams that will compete in the 2026 World Cup. On April 26, 2022, the Board of Directors for the Great Park voted to let FIFA use parts of the Sports Complex in the form of a training site for two teams in the tournament.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is all set to make changes to this tournament, especially in the case of hosting the matches at a location that is centralized.
FIFA has not used three different nations to host the soccer championship tournament before. For the 2026 edition, it has chosen Mexico, the US and Canada as the main nation stages. It will become the largest-ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, with 48 international teams participating in a schedule of 80 matches over 45 days.
FIFA will make final stadium selections in May 2022, with Los Angeles being part of the contenders. Los Angeles has the new SoFi Stadium, alongside the Rose Bowl Stadium that hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Great Park Community Services Superintendent Steven Stewart presented the Board of Directors with the item to consider. During Stewart’s presentation, he described the tournament as an event that comes once in a generation. He also explained that the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission brought the item to staff’s attention. The commission wished to add Championship Soccer Stadium and the Great Park Sports Complex if FIFA chooses Los Angeles in the form of a world cup host city.
Stewart added that Irvine is also likely to benefit economically, with regard to hospitality. He said that this opportunity builds on Irvine’s reputation as an international event host city as well as offers a positive impact on the economy through hospitality services with hotel accommodation, food and drink services. He added that venues chosen to be a soccer training site are supposed to play a big part in the performance of the participants in the tournament. As for Stewart, the venues offer world-class amenities and hotel accommodation options.
He also said that the commission visited the Great Park last November. As per Stewart, FIFA is expected to make final calls on where to host FIFA World Cup training and matches this month. The commission represents Los Angeles city and the regions around it and is among the candidates to be a FIFA World Cup host city. It is making a request to add the Great Park Sports Complex to the tournament as its training site.
As per City Manager of Irvine Oliver Chi, a fee related to the utilization of the sporting facility is included in this prospective agreement. Chi said that Irvine is optimistic about FIFA choosing SoFi Stadium to host the championship games in the group stage. If that happens, said Chi, FIFA would return to Irvine and inform it whether it chose its site for training or not. If FIFA does so, it is also expected to let Irvine know the number of teams that would train in the stadium.
Depending on that, Irvine would determine what facilities the federation would require to host those teams. Irvine has been informed that it could host as many as two teams at the stadium for around a month as part of the 2026 edition of the soccer tournament.
Chi stated that Irvine could set up a daily fee with the federation that would be non-negotiable and would aid the city in mitigating the impacts to it.
Irvine would negotiate the level of usage, the teams that would be located there, the effect of the tournament on its resources and anything it needs to create that would be embedded into that daily fee. Chi regarded this as a positive finance-related decision. As for Chi, considering the fact that the tournament is slated for 2026, Irvine has enough time to coordinate and plan.
Every council member backed the motion, but Irvine councilor Mike Carroll stated that it was an exciting chance for the US city. Carroll added that he believes in the confidence that the new Irvine city manager shows here.