{"id":1603,"date":"2021-09-20T22:28:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T22:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2021-09-27T01:47:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T01:47:23","slug":"d-c-makes-case-to-host-fifa-world-cup-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/d-c-makes-case-to-host-fifa-world-cup-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"D.C. makes case to host FIFA World Cup in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 2026 FIFA World Cup may seem far away but selecting cities to host the event is well underway with 24 delegates currently in the midst of touring sites around Washington, D.C. as they make their case for one of ten slots available for the United States portion of the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nation\u2019s capital is no stranger to hosting the World Cup which is just one of the points D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shared with visiting delegates during a press conference held at the International Spy Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DC Mayor Muriel Bowser stands before FIFA representatives to share a few reasons why the district should be the host city for the World Cup in 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UnitedByTheGame?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UnitedByTheGame<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DC2026?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DC2026<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tV5ZSRMwU6\">pic.twitter.com\/tV5ZSRMwU6<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Double Take Sports (@dbltakesports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dbltakesports\/status\/1439630891140194308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 19, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Often referred to as America\u2019s&nbsp;\u201csoccer capital,\u201d the District of Columbia is the only U.S. city to have hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1996 Olympic Soccer, 1999 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup, 2003 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup and the 2013 US Soccer Centennial Celebration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWashington, D.C. is one of the world\u2019s most recognizable cities and a global hub of culture with world-class infrastructure making it the premier destination for large-scale, international events,\u201d said Max Brown, DC2026 Advisory Board Co-Chair.&nbsp; \u201cAnd we are a soccer city and region. We remain as confident as ever ahead of the delegation visit, which marks another important milestone with FIFA and U.S. Soccer as we work to host this fantastic event in our nation\u2019s capital. We look forward to this next chapter in our city\u2019s storied soccer legacy of both U.S. and international competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;site visit, D.C. also unveiled its vision for the 2026&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;FanFest, which will be located on the historic 300-acre National Mall, and will be the largest&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;FanFest in&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;World Cup<strong> <\/strong>history. The&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;FanFestwill break more records on July 4, 2026, when the U.S. will celebrate its 250<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;birthday on the Mall in conjunction with the&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;FanFest. City officials estimate there will be over onemillion attendees, making it the largest attended single-event in&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve been here on Independence Day, you know it\u2019s a good time celebrating the birthday of our nation and people coming from all over the world and all over the region,\u201d Bowser said. \u201cSo we think it\u2019s the perfect marriage to bring the world\u2019s greatest sporting event to the nation\u2019s capital on the 4<sup>th<\/sup> of July. It will be an experience that no one will want to miss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To set themselves apart in their fourth World Cup <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dc2026.org\">bid<\/a>, the Mayor brought along other heavy hitters to join her alongside Victor Montagliani,&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;Vice-President and CONCACAF President and Colin Smith,&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;Chief Tournaments &amp; Events Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bill Hamid, D.C. United and U.S. Men\u2019s National Team goalkeeper, and Briana Scurry, two-time Olympic gold medal winner and&nbsp;FIFA&nbsp;World Cup champion, former Washington Spirit Assistant Coach, former US Women\u2019s National Team and Washington Freedom goalkeeper, both spoke from  personal perspective about the deep roots of soccer in the region and how it has impacted their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"D.C. FIFA World Cup 2026 Bid - Bill Hamid\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xQrZJ_xjvHc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"D.C.\u2019s FIFA World Cup Bid - Briana Scurry\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LeGEjhqRAp0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional speakers that helped lay out D.C.\u2019s vision included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Esteban Moctezuma, Ambassador of Mexico to the United States<\/li><li>Max Brown, DC2026 Advisory Board Co-Chair<\/li><li>Mark Ein, DC2026 Advisory Board Co-Chair<\/li><li>Greg O\u2019Dell, President and CEO of Events DC<\/li><li>Gina Adams, Senior Vice President, FedEx Corporation<\/li><li>Nicole Quiroga, President &amp; CEO, Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce<\/li><li>Danita Johnson, President of Operations, D.C. United<\/li><li>Members of the DC2026 Advisory Board and Bid Team<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If selected, FedExField is the proposed site for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Local venues including Audi Field, Georgetown University, Segra Field, the Fields at RFK Campus and Maryland SoccerPlex would also be tapped as training sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur entire organization could not be more excited to continue our proud tradition of hosting major soccer events at FedExField,\u201d Washington Football Team President Jason Wright said. \u201cThe opportunity to welcome the 2026 FIFA World Cup would be yet another capstone moment for our stadium hosting global soccer events, and we are eager to share with the delegation and the world how our major improvements across FedExField will carry forward that proud legacy and our longtime relationship with the sport.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FIFA delegation is traveling to 16 other U.S. cities this fall and is expected to name the United States\u2019 final ten host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in March 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 FIFA World Cup may seem far away but selecting cities to host the event is well underway with 24 delegates currently in the midst of touring sites around Washington, D.C. as they make their case for one of ten slots available for the United States portion of the event. The nation\u2019s capital is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-various","tag-features"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/FIFA_crop.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1613,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1603\/revisions\/1613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbltakesports.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}