Photo: FIFA.
The 2026 World Cup is in full swing in North America. Undoubtedly the sporting event of the year, with an expanded format of 48 teams, a total of 104 matches, unprecedented revenues, and staggering viewership. What FIFA talks less about, however, is the environmental footprint of its tournament, with 16 host cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and long flights for spectators as well as for President Gianni Infantino, who has already traveled more than 60.000 kilometers and emitted over 500 tons of CO2 since the start of the tournament. This context inspired a column by Jean-Loup Chappelet, published in Sunday morning (Lausanne) on June 28th and that Francs Jeux sharing in turn. The environmental impact of this World Cup will be major, probably the strongest of all sporting events ever organized " warns the honorary professor at the University of Lausanne.
"Numerous studies have shown that three-quarters of the environmental impact of an event (especially a sporting event) stems from the impact of transportation to and during the event. There will be relatively few non-resident spectators coming from abroad, given the cost of tickets and US visa restrictions. However, spectators already in the country will likely travel by plane between 16 widely separated North American cities, from Mexico City to Toronto, from New York to Los Angeles, from Miami to Seattle, and so on.
Furthermore, FIFA, which oversees the event, has traditionally organized it over a month in an entire country (South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014, Western Russia in 2018, etc.). This year, it will take place in three countries, and in 2030, it will be held across three continents and six countries (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco). In 2034, only Saudi Arabia will be involved (still four times the size of France). Moreover, the number of teams in the final tournament has increased from 32 (from 1998 to 2022) – representing 64 matches – to 48 today, and potentially more in the future. The number of matches has therefore almost doubled between 2022 and 2026, and ticket revenue has increased even more, as almost all matches are sold out and ticket prices have skyrocketed.
The environmental impact, particularly from transportation, is proportional to the length of the event and the number of spectators, teams, matches, etc. Therefore, it can be said that the 2026 World Cup will have roughly twice the impact of the previous one, unless local organizers or FIFA have taken measures to limit intra- and inter-city transportation, which does not appear to be the case.
It can therefore be said that the World Cup will have twice the environmental impact of the Olympic Games, which take place over 17 days (instead of a month and a week) and in a city/region (instead of an entire country), with, for Paris 2024, approximately 3 million tourists (having slept at least one night there and traveling by metro), of which only 1,6 million came from abroad (probably by plane) according to statistics from the Paris Tourist Office.
The unfortunate thing about the environmental impact is that many other events are growing rather than stabilizing, increasing their frequency, the number of participants, the number of competition venues, their capacity, and so on. And we don't see what can stop them in their quest to increase their revenue. This proliferation of events cannot continue indefinitely!"
