Kansas City will host six FIFA World Cup matches in the summer of 2026. Whether you’re a local or among the hundreds of thousands of people expected to travel in, KCUR put together a guide to the games, how to get tickets and what's happening in town.
Leading up to 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.
If you know about a local champion of soccer in Kansas City who helped bring the city to this extraordinary moment, email us at peopleshistorykc@kcur.org
A People's History of Kansas City: How we became a soccer city
-
Historic Northeast Kansas City has undergone significant renovation featuring new shops and restaurants. But some small business owners don't think the city's promoting them — and World Cup visitors won't know they exist. -
Get to know Kansas City's neighborhoods and its local artists by exploring our many nighttime art walks and pop-ups — from First Fridays and special World Cup night markets in the Crossroads to Third Fridays on Strawberry Hill. -
Kansas City’s six World Cup matches are among dozens seeing significant resale ticket prices drops in the last month. One local reseller attributes the losses to fan frustration with FIFA’s new confusing “dynamic pricing” system and more matches this year than for previous tournaments. -
Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was one of the last teams to qualify for the World Cup, will face Panama on June 6 at Energizer Park. St. Louis is home to more than 60,000 Bosnians, making it one of the largest communities outside of the country of Bosnia. -
Nearly 90% of Kansas City hotels surveyed reported that bookings were running below projections — worse than any other host city, and with only weeks to go before the World Cup. -
An influx of visitors from countries where tipping isn’t a cultural norm could mean a pay cut for some Kansas City hospitality workers. Several restaurants are adding auto-gratuity to be safe, but many in hotspots like Westport and Power & Light are waiting to see what happens.
