Al-Amn Magazine

SPORT W The heat i s on 2026 Worl d Cup : Race agai ns t t ime ith one year to go until the start of the World Cup, the heat is on FIFA, host cities and the U.S. government Few people have a better sense of the operational scale of the 2026 FIFA World Cup than Daniel Rosenthal. Last year, Rosenthal’s company, Rock-it Cargo, won the right to serve as FIFA’s official logistics provider for the event, which for the first time includes 48 teams and three host countries: the U.S., Canada and Mexico. “If you take the 16 venues and turn them upside down and shake everything out, we’re supporting getting all of that there — as well as to the teams’ training facilities — and moving it across borders,” said Rosenthal, the president and CEO of Global Critical Logistics, Rock-it Cargo’s parent company. Rock-it expects to utilize around 5,000 vehicles and 1 million square feet of warehouse space to move more than 1 million pounds of equipment to import and transport everything from field grass and LED signage to uniforms and soccer balls for FIFA and the teams. That doesn’t include the cargo it expects to move for the FIFA sponsors and broadcasters it is also contracting with. “We have partners that brought 1 million pounds of freight to Qatar [in 2022] that are anticipating 20 million pounds of freight for the 2026 World Cup,” Rosenthal said. All that freight will play a role in putting on what is poised to be the most lucrative sporting event in history. FIFA expects to generate close to $9 billion in revenue next year, including $3.9 billion on media rights, $3 billion on tickets and hospitality and $1.8 million on marketing rights. The opportunity, however, extends beyond the governing body. Participating federations, broadcasters, vendors and sponsors all see massive commercial potential, and host cities are looking forward to welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors and gaining valuable global exposure. Those invested in the long-term future of soccer, from professional leagues to youth programs, view next year as a generational opportunity to grow the sport and their businesses in North America. Expectations for the event are sky high, but there is still a daunting amount of work to be done over the next 12 months. Host cities are still scraping to raise funds to cover their nine-figure costs and developing their plans for fan fests. The U.S. federal government also is playing catch-up on issues ranging from visa policy to drone security. City states Unlike in previous World Cups, which were largely put on by a local organizing committee in the host country, FIFA is overseeing virtually all aspects of the 2026 edition. The Zurich-based governing body opened a Miami office in 2023 to serve as its main hub for the tournament that now houses around 600 employees. “If you are an event owner and your prized possession is an event like the FIFA World Cup, putting it wholly into someone else’s hands is probably not what experts would say is the way to do it,” Amy Hopfinger, FIFA’s chief business and strategy officer for the event, said of the