Vancouver mayor excited to host FIFA Games

Mayor Ken Sim says Vancouver hosting seven of the 13 FIFA World Cup games in Canada in 2026 is a massive opportunity for growth.

“People have to realize these games are huge, we’re literally getting the equivalent of 30-40 super bowls in the city of Vancouver over a month long period,” he said.

Destination BC says it projects the tournament could generate $1 billion to the province’s tourism sector. But Sim says the event is going to be bigger than that.

“We’re re-running the numbers because we’re getting more numbers than we thought we would get,” he said Tuesday. 

Sim adds there will be a huge influx of tourists before, during, and after the World Cup games.

“Leading up to the games and five years thereafter, over 900,000 tourists would come visit our city as well, so it’s going to be bigger than that,” Sim said.

The mayor aspires for Vancouver to host the best set of games, and is gearing towards that.

“This is a huge event, it’s coming together. We have two years still, but two years will fly and so it’s our goal to make sure that we really roll (up) our sleeves and we make sure out of all the 13 games that (we) are hosting, Vancouver hosts the best World Cup set of games,” said Sim.

On Sunday, FIFA unveiled the number of games each city would host during the 2026 tournament. 

Canada will play two games in Vancouver on June 18 and June 24, after opening its tournament in Toronto on June 12.

Both Canadian cities will host five World Cup group stage games each in the 104-game event. Vancouver’s other group stage dates are June 13, June 21 and June 26.

Vancouver will also host matches during the round of 32 and round of 16 stages, which will take place on July 2 and July 7.