This is how it will look and sound when soccer fans descend on KC for World Cup
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Kansas City will host games in 2026 World Cup
Kansas City made an aggressive bid to be one of the U.S. host cities for the enormous international event put on by FIFA. Arrowhead will host the games, and it will be a massive economic boost.
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The scene unfolded like a car crash — in slow motion.
On my first full day in Germany to cover the 2006 World Cup, I was outside a train station when a group of garishly dressed Ivory Coast fans in their men’s national team’s orange-and-green colors sauntered past.
They were chanting and dancing, but I feared they soon would be silenced because a bunch of people in powder blue and white striped jerseys — instantly recognizable as Argentina supporters — were headed our way.
Argentina and Ivory Coast were set to meet that night in a highly anticipated match.
This could get ugly, I thought.
It was instead beautiful.
Fans of the rival teams sang, danced and laughed as they formed a joyous circle of orange, power blue and green.
With Kansas City having been named a host city for the men’s 2026 World Cup, a repeat of this very scene could play out here.
‘It’s Messi!’
The World Cup is about crowning a champion every four years, so the focus will be on what happens at Arrowhead Stadium, where games here will be played.
But the tournament, much like the Super Bowl, is an event. Fans from six continents will be in the United States, Canada and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup.
Kansas City could welcome visitors from any part of the globe, and no matter their nationality, those fans will have a few things in common.
They’ll be soccer supporters (of course).
But they also will be exuberant souls excited to explore Kansas City and meet other fans from around the world, even if it’s simply the locals in Missouri or Kansas. These visitors will bring music, dancing and a wide range of clothes in the colors of their home nation.
During that 2006 World Cup, I spied two women from Brazil walking among a crowd after a game. How did I know their nationality? It was easy to deduce.
Unsurprisingly, the duo drew a crowd. There were fans dressed as Elvis Presley, the World Cup trophy and the three musketeers. Many had painted their faces and other body parts.
Much of the fun will take place in areas designated as FIFA areas, which are a combination of a carnival and the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot on a Chiefs game day.
I had pamphlets about Christianity pressed in my hands more than once, heard bands playing and fans debating their team’s chances, and saw folks selling shirts, jerseys and caps, or anything else you could want to wear.
Many fans arrive at the tournament without tickets and are content to take in the experience and watch a game in a packed fan fest spot.
But the fun takes place away from those areas, too, and not everyone is outlandishly dressed or seeking to join a party.
While sight-seeing one day with my uncle and aunt, we saw a huge poster of an Argentina player on the side of a hotel. We didn’t recognize this young man, so we stopped a couple dressed in blue and white jerseys for an ID.
Their stupefied reaction told me I should know this player, and they firmly but politely said: “It’s Messi!”
That World Cup gave me my first introduction to the then 18-year-old Lionel Messi.
Meet the world
As I did in Germany, fans four years from now will spend a few hours at a stadium and the rest of the time soaking in the Kansas City experience.
Interactions with strangers from around the world will happen nearly nearly anywhere.
A group of slightly inebriated Australian fans had me in stitches at a pub, I chatted on a train with a broadcaster who played on Ireland’s 1994 World Cup team and spoke at length with a journalist from India about why that country’s national soccer team had never appeared in a World Cup.
I heard blissful Ecuador fans repeatedly belting out their nation’s name after a big win as they walked down the street. Small Brazilian bands showed up seemingly everywhere with drums and percussion shakers. U.S. and Ghana supporters danced around a bongo player after a game in the center of the city where their game was played.
That was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and four years from now all those singing, friendly, dancing, cheerful people will be coming to Kansas City.
It’ll be unlike anything we’ve ever seen here, and it’s gonna be awesome.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
