FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in town to promote this summer’s Club World Cup and next summer’s World Cup, praised Atlanta and Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday but said it probably would need to add 20,000 more seats to be considered a championship match host site for the 2031 Women’s World Cup.
The stadium’s soccer capacity is 72,000. It will host six matches in the Club World Cup and eight matches in the World Cup.
Infantino was joined by Mayor Andre Dickens, Arthur M. Blank Sports & Entertainment President Tim Zulawski, former U.S. women’s coach Jill Ellis and former French international standout Youri Djorkaeff to talk about the upcoming tournaments.
“I think that the city has a great, great opportunity to showcase itself this year with the FIFA Club and the FIFA World Cup … to create a joyful atmosphere inside the city,” he said. “What do you want to do with the World Cup, whether it’s the clubs, the national teams or the Women’s World Cup, is to really to unite, to bring people together, to bring people to spend time in the city. I think Atlanta has everything to perform in a great way.”
FIFA announced recently that the U.S. was the only region to bid to host the 2031 Women’s World Cup. Atlanta is interested in being considered as a host site. The host country hasn’t been announced.
But there’s a lot of soccer to be played in the stadium, both by clubs from MLS and the Premier League and others from around the world, and men’s national teams in the next six years.
“The stadium is absolutely incredible when it’s full,” Infantino said. “Atlanta has really become a soccer city, and the fact that the stadium was built where you can play football and soccer at the same time shows how much the city and everyone involved in sport in the city cares.”
In addition to the six matches in the expanded 32-team Club World Cup, which in Atlanta will feature Chelsea, Manchester City, Inter Miami and Porto, to name a few, the city will host a doubleheader of Premier League friendlies featuring Manchester United vs. Everton and Bournemouth vs. West Ham on Aug. 3.
The Club World Cup matches are Chelsea versus Club Leon in a Group D match at 3 p.m. June 16, Inter Miami versus Porto in a Group A match at 3 p.m. June 19, Manchester City versus Al Ain in a Group G match at 9 p.m. June 22, a Round of 16 match at noon June 29 and another at 9 p.m. July 1, and a quarterfinal at noon July 5.
Next summer, during Atlanta United’s MLS season, the city will host eight matches in the World Cup. The first match will be a group stage on June 15, followed by two more group stage matches on June 24 and 27, a knockout stage match on July 1, a Round of 16 match on July 7, and a semifinal on July 15. The championship match is scheduled to be played July 19 in New York/New Jersey.
“Since we love Atlanta so much, mayor, we thought we don’t come only once,” Infantino said. “We have to come twice, and you have to bring two World Cups to Atlanta.”
Infantino described the 14 matches as like hosting 14 Super Bowls.
“Because we unite the world, it will bring fans from over the world, will bring fans, of course, from Atlanta, to come to join and to see what to see the best teams and the best players in the world,” Infantino said.
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