Frisco will host European team for 2026 FIFA World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will run from June 11 to July 19. Nine of the tournament’s 104 matches will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, which will be temporarily renamed to Dallas Stadium for the World Cup.

Frisco’s Toyota Stadium was announced as a base camp location last year, along with several other locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area:

• Norma Knobel Hunt Stadium at the University of North Texas, Denton
• Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium at TCU, Fort Worth
• Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas
• Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium at SMU, Dallas
• Patriot Soccer Field at Dallas Baptist University, Dallas
• Mansfield Stadium, Mansfield

Not every potential base camp will be selected by a World Cup team. FIFA has 64 base camp locations, but only 48 teams will participate in the tournament.

Cheney said that Frisco officials have been talking about the World Cup coming to North Texas for over eight years, and the city is thrilled that their efforts are paying off.

“We’re just so excited to finally be here,” Cheney said.

The local impact

North Texas is expected to receive an estimated 3.8 million visitors over the course of the tournament, creating an economic impact of up to $2.1 billion for the region, according to a Dec. 17 press release from the city of Arlington.

Toyota Stadium, which is operated through a private-public partnership with the city of Frisco, is currently undergoing $182 million worth of renovations ahead of the tournament.

“We look forward to showing the world the investment that Frisco, Texas, is making to make sure that we’re the soccer capital of Dallas-Fort Worth,” Cheney said.

How it works

On March 26, Poland will play Albania and Ukraine will play Sweden, then the winners will play each other March 31. The winner of that match will join the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia in Group F of the World Cup.

The members of Group F will play each other in six group stage matches, including two matches in Arlington, according to FIFA’s match schedule:

• Netherlands vs. Japan on June 14
• Japan vs. Poland/Albania/Ukraine/Sweden on June 25

Frisco officials have been readying for an influx of visitors this summer.

The Frisco Police Department has been working with the FBI and other North Texas cities to coordinate event security for the World Cup, Police Chief David Shilson said at a Jan. 15 Frisco City Council work session.

Shilson said his department, which already has regular contact with the FBI via a detective embedded in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, has been able to take on a leadership role in World Cup security preparations for the region.

“People [in other cities] are kind of following our lead,” he said.

Frisco police are also set to launch six drones that will act as first responders in May, which Shilson said will help his officers manage the volume of visitors this summer.

The fire department will also step up operations for the World Cup, Fire Chief Lee Glover said at the work session.

Fire inspectors, bomb squads, tactical medics and emergency personnel with hazmat training are all part of his department’s preparations for the tournament.

Another detail

Frisco officials are also looking to add more transit options ahead of the World Cup, director of engineering services Jason Brodigan said at the Jan. 15 work session.

City staff are in talks with the Denton County Transit Authority to implement a microtransit system in certain areas of Frisco and are working to secure a vendor for a downtown circulator in the Rail District, where construction on a years-long redevelopment program is set to wrap up by June 1, according to the project’s website.

The microtransit system is expected to be made up of passenger vans with six seats that can be called using an app, while the downtown circulator will consist of smaller vehicles on a set path that could be expanded during the World Cup, Brodigan said.

Brodigan said he hopes to have both programs operational before the World Cup to help accommodate tourism driven by the event.

Get involved

Tickets for World Cup matches will be available for purchase during the Last-Minute Sales Phase starting at 9 a.m. on April 2, according to FIFA’s website.

Frisco officials are also working with FC Dallas to host a 39-day watch party in Simpson Plaza with viewing opportunities for 97 of the World Cup matches, said Josh Dill, assistant executive director of Visit Frisco, at the Jan. 15 work session.

Dill said that Frisco residents will "get priority" for the event, which is set to be the largest unofficial watch party for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“On behalf of our residents that will get to enjoy the experience, our businesses that will benefit from the experience, we just want to say welcome,” Cheney said.