Several of the United States cities to have hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup are now apparently asking FIFA about millions in promised legacy funds, the money of which has still not arrived.
Four members of FIFA World Cup host city committees believe that executives were assured at various points by senior figures of FIFA’s management team, in meetings but never in a public statement, that each city would be granted a $1 million legacy award in order to invest in local football infrastructure and community-based social initiatives, claims The Athletic.
In the report, it’s indicated that city officials have continued to “push” FIFA for their legacy money again, after the organisation’s president Gianni Infantino announced that the host cities for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, to be held in the US also, would receive $1 million legacy awards.
The American clubs to have hosted the World Cup are New York/New Jersey, LA, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco – it had an extended World Cup where over 30 teams participated.
It’s reported that all of this is while FIFA has been making record revenues during 2023-26 amounting to $15 billion in sales, and the FIFA president continues to be attacked for the failure to find investors for FIFA World Cup plans, with UEFA leading the attack against the president of football’s global organisation alongside several football federations.
