It is official that Seattle’s Lumen Field has been chosen as a 2026 World Cup site. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) recently made the announcement. This is exciting for football (soccer) fans all over. The local soccer fans are happy because a World Cup is back in the Pacific Northwest for the first time since the 2003 Women’s World Cup.
Information about the announcement shows that Seattle’s Lumen Field will be one of 11 stadiums in the United States slated to host matches for the 2026 World Cup. The United States, Mexico, as well as Canada will all take on the hosting duties for 2026 World Cup. This will include the U.S. overseeing sixty games that will be played on it soil. Less games will be played in Canada and Mexico. That number is10 games each.
This has been a long time in the making. Since 2015, private and public sectors spent years making the case that Seattle is worthy of hosting World Cup matches. The United States last hosted the World Cup in 1994.
Visit Seattle said the city could generate between $90-100 million in economic activity depending on the number of World Cup games Seattle is slated to host. The economics includes 10,000 hotel rooms within a two-hour drive of Lumen Field with 6,000 hotel rooms having already been booked.
Lumen Field will be converting its artificial turf to grass suitable for World Cup matches. Those matches are expected to begin in June 2026. According to Visit Seattle, the 69,000-seat capacity venue in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood will host several matches for the expanded 48-team World Cup.
