Arlington ramps up World Cup preps with visiting countries in mind
Arlington ramps up FIFA World Cup preparation
Arlington is ramping up preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup now that team matchups are set.
ARLINGTON, Texas - Now that we know the teams who will play in Arlington for the World Cup, the city is making preparations for the specific countries.
They're working to build fan profiles, so businesses in the entertainment district can be ready.
Arlington World Cup preps
The more details released, the more momentum increases with planning as the structure takes shape for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The picture is becoming more clear each day for the upcoming tournament.
Since the festivities surrounding the draw, we know the first match-up at AT&T Stadium, which will be known as Dallas Stadium for the tournament, will be the Netherlands and Japan taking the field.
The behind the scenes planning is well underway with additional public safety, traffic management and cleanup crews needed for next summer's event.
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World Cup ambassador villages
Knowing which teams are playing in Arlington has also helped with the creation of the "ambassador village," or a hub with representatives from each country to assist its citizens, including Argentina, Austria, England, Croatia, Japan and Jordan.
On and off the field, the planning hits the final phase, with significantly more to come once team base camps are revealed.
Arlington is beginning to hold events with hotels and restaurants to share info about changes impacting traffic and other details, including the visitors expected.
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Netherlands march in Arlington
At a meeting Tuesday with city leaders in Arlington, key planners detailed one scenario. The Netherlands fans are known to flood the streets prior to a match with a celebratory march, an event expected in Arlington that could draw thousands.
What they're saying:
"We are expecting about 10,000 folks that will want to march from an area towards the stadium. So, the great news about that is that then several thousand of those fans will go into the stadium, and the others will be looking for places in Arlington to go watch the match, because they're not going to want to go far and miss kickoff. So those are some of the exciting things that we think are coming," said Noelle Leveaux, the chief marketing officer for FIFA.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the City of Arlington, FIFA and previous FOX 4 reporting.