Kansas City is hosting six matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Whether you’re a local, or among the hundreds of thousands of expected visitors, KCUR put together a guide to the games, how to get tickets and what's happening in town.
Leading into the 2026 World Cup, KCUR's podcast A People's History of Kansas City is exploring how we became a soccer city. This project is in collaboration with the Great Game Lab at Arizona State University, which explores how sport connects us to the rest of the world, and the Us@250 Initiative at New America.
See our exhibition "A People’s History of Kansas City Soccer!" at the Kansas City Public Library — Central Branch, on display now through September.
A People's History of Kansas City: How we became a soccer city
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Organizers of a "Thank You Lawrence" party say they hope for annual celebrations after the city hosted the Algerian men's national soccer team during the FIFA World Cup this summer. -
World Cup fever has reignited former high school athletes' interest in playing soccer themselves. -
More people signed on to run Airbnbs, VRBOs and other short-term home rentals in anticipation of an influx of visitors. With more places in the market, occupancy rates actually went down — but prices went up. -
It'll be a while before we get a complete picture of how the 2026 FIFA World Cup benefits Kansas City long-term. But if this truly is Soccer Capital of the U.S., now is the moment to prove it: Both Sporting KC and the KC Current are resuming their regular seasons with home games in the next week. -
Not every business saw a boost from visiting fans, but some leveraged a prime location, ingenuity in planning, or a personal connection to get a boost from the FIFA World Cup's stint in Kansas City. -
After neighbors in the Historic Northeast raised concerns about a deteriorating, three-block-long mural, city crews and hundreds of volunteers joined forces to repaint and restore it. Neighborhood leaders say the work will help renew a sense of pride.
