How KC wowed FIFA with its soccer details and became a World Cup host city
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KC coordinated soccer displays and details for the FIFA delegation.
- Sporting KC and community partners showcased fan culture and local facilities.
- Visible planning, events and a new training project helped win the host-city bid.
Cliff Illig may no longer be a principal owner of Sporting Kansas City, but one of his mantras remains a point of focus for the Major League Soccer franchise.
Sweat the details.
That’s the opposite of a phrase we’ve all heard: Don’t sweat the small stuff. But Illig’s mantra is such an important part of Sporting KC’s culture that those words adorn a wall inside one of the team’s conference rooms.
A focus on the minutiae is a reason why Kansas City became a World Cup host city. When a FIFA delegation arrived in October 2021, Sporting KC and the KC 2026 bid committee made sure soccer was on display.
“There was a lot of attention to detail,” said Sporting Kansas City’s senior director of communications, Kurt Austin.
Austin would know. He got off work Oct. 20 and headed to the airport — but not to greet the delegation that was arriving. It was the old KCI, and he simply strolled around with a couple hundred others who were there to make the airport seem lively.
The FIFA delegation was driven to the Loews Kansas City hotel, but the roads avoided construction. They did, however, see signs about the city’s desire to host the World Cup. And, at the Horsefeather Social cocktail lounge at Loews, a mini soccer field was marked off with two goals.
When officials left the hotel, kids from the Guadalupe Center could be seen playing soccer on a field installed outside of the hotel.
And when the delegation’s visit ended with a trip to Sporting Park to watch the U.S. women’s soccer team play, a special tifo, or banner, was unfurled in the Cauldron area of the stadium. It was of the United States and had the words, “From sea to shining sea.” In the middle was a heart with the letters KC.
Sporting had worked with the American Outlaws, a U.S. Soccer fans organization, to make the tifo, which highlighted Kansas City’s love of soccer.
“A lot of thought went into the visit,” Austin said.
It didn’t hurt that just days before FIFA officials arrived, the Kansas City Current had announced plans to build a training facility in Riverside.
By sweating the details, everywhere the FIFA delegation looked, they saw soccer. That hard work paid off as Kansas City was selected as a host city.
