ATLANTA — It’s exactly one year away, and Atlanta is getting ready.
The last major international sporting event in the city was 29 years ago, the 1996 Summer Olympics.
The city and the region got a major boost from hosting that event. Organizers hope they’ll get one again, and they say so far they’re on track for the 2026 World Cup.
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“I think the city is ready,” said Lachandra Burks, the city of Atlanta’s chief operating officer.
She believes that they’re on track to have the city prepared for next summer’s FIFA World Cup and all the fans expected to come here.
“From infrastructure to safety and security to the world’s busiest airport, where you can get to anywhere in two hours, we feel ready,” Burks said.
Atlanta’s World Cup hosting committee gave an update on its readiness during its Wednesday morning news conference.
Committee chair Dan Corso thinks Atlanta is moving in the right direction.
He said soccer’s international governing body thinks so, too.
“I mean, we are a big event city,” Corso said. “We know how to work together. We know how to make things happen, but we also know we’re ready because we got great feedback from FIFA.”
Atlanta will host matches at the group stage, the knockout round and one semifinal.
Although the organizers won’t know which nations the national teams will come from until the official draws in December, there’s still a lot of work to do.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium will have to cover up all the Mercedes-Benz logos since it’s not an official FIFA sponsor. However, stadium officials say that’s not a problem.
“Nah, it won’t be too difficult,” said Dietmar Exler, stadium COO. “No, no, no, I don’t want to pop (the logos) off. We’re going to keep it there. We’re going to cover it with a soccer ball.”
They’re going to call it FIFA Atlanta Stadium.
In December’s official draw, Atlanta will find out which nations are coming and how many will be coming, nine or 10.
Officials say once they know that, they can tailor their response to the nations and their fans.
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