The 2026 World Cup in KC officially ended Friday with one final England activity
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- Kansas City hosted World Cup teams for 48 days.
- Argentina arrived May 31 and held their first KC practice on June 3.
- England held a final practice at Swope Soccer Village before flying to Florida.
Forty-eight days.
That’s how long the 2026 FIFA World Cup was in Kansas City. The nearly seven-week span was longer than the quadrennial soccer tournament itself.
Games across North America began June 11 and will end Sunday with the Argentina-Spain final at New York New Jersey (MetLife) Stadium. But for Kansas City, it started when Argentina arrived on May 31 in a plane designed to look like a Lionel Messi jersey. His No. 10 was on the aircraft’s sky blue and white tail.
Argentina was the first of four nations to establish a base camp in Kansas City. Messi and his teammates held their first practice here on June 3. Algeria and the Netherlands soon followed, and on June 13, England arrived.
The British were also the last to leave. The “Three Lions” squad had a final practice Friday morning at Swope Soccer Village ahead of their third-place match against France on Saturday.
In the portion of training that was open to media, the players went through some light ball-control drills and jogging. The soundtrack to the practice included Portugal The Man, Outkast, Kriss Kross and Janet Jackson. It was a mostly muted session, as one would expect given England’s gutting 2-1 loss Wednesday to Argentina in a semifinal match.
But Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and their teammates were on the practice field. When the training ended, Team England traveled to the airport, where the entourage boarded a plane for Florida and a chance to finish third, which would be the Brits’ best showing since the 1966 World Cup.
And if the “Three Lions” win, perhaps they will have gotten a bit of good luck from eating Kansas City barbecue. Some of the players stopped at Joe’s Kansas City on Thursday night. If you are going to have one final dinner in KC, that’s a pretty good choice.
This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 2:27 PM.
