FIFA announced the 12 host cities and stadiums for next summer’s Club World Cup, and Washington D.C.’s Audi Field made the list.
The 2025 iteration of the tournament is the first of the new format, which features 32 qualifying club teams from around the world in a more traditional international tournament format: round robin group stage followed by a seeded bracket. This will be the first “major” international tournament to touch base in the nation’s capital since the USMNT blew out Cuba 7-0 in the 2019 CONCACAF Nations League.
The selection comes as a bit of a surprise, as neither Audi Field nor Northwest Stadium (formerly Fedex Field) were chosen for this summer’s Copa America. In fact, neither were chosen for the 2026 World Cup either.
The decision brings mixed feelings.
There’s an excitement in seeing the top of the beautiful game reengage with D.C., which houses fairly successful youth development. At the same time, there’s slight apprehension on the realistic outcome of the decision, and what it may mean for soccer tourism in the city moving forward.
The Excitement
While Audi Field brings mixed reactions, it undoubtedly provides a great game-watching experience. The stands are steep, which works the unsuspecting calf but provides great views to all 20,000 seats around the stadium. The shape also gives way to creating an engaging and enthusiastic environment, which helps to justify the hefty ticket prices.
Whatever fixture lands in D.C. will likely provide a largely net positive experience. Over the last two summers Premier League club Arsenal have Washington part of their summer preseason. The men’s team took part in competing against the MLS All-Stars in 2023, and the women’s team played friendlies against Chelsea and the NWSL’s Washington Spirit in 2024.
Both visits brought out a lot of passionate fans from the area, and put D.C. back on the soccer world map if only just for a brief moment.
DC United was a founding member of the MLS in 1996, winning three of the first four MLS Cups ever. The club built a passionate fan base that included heavy Bolivian and El Salvadorian influence thanks to the early success of Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno, and Raul Diaz Arce. The club isn’t quite where it was, but there are deep soccer roots in the city.
The Washington Spirit has carried the torch well. Recent success in the past few seasons and star players like Trinity Rodman and Croix Bethune are playing huge parts in inspiring new generations of soccer fans within the area. The Spirit are one of the top contenders to win the championship, one of the first for the city since the 2019 Nationals.
There is a great balance of old and new passion and interest in the game around the area that regardless of the fixture, the games in D.C. will be successful.
The Apprehension
There are reasons the area and its two stadiums were snubbed for the other two, bigger tournaments.
The aforementioned 20,000 seat capacity at Audi Field puts it on the smaller end of the scale of FIFA standards. The smallest stadium being used in 2026 is BMO Field in Toronto, Canada, which built an expansion to get to its 45,000 seat capacity.
This a tough point to make because it’s not likely that either the Spirit or DCU would fill a 40,000+ capacity stadium. United didn’t even do that when they were in RFK stadium. However, that’s the scale needed for events to the scale of FIFA, and opportunities at this size are few and far between.
Likewise, the low capacity likely means the tournament won’t prioritize putting the higher profile teams or high stakes matches there. While history will still be made throughout the whole tournament, eyes and money will likely shift more towards bigger city stadiums like MetLife in New Jersey or the Rose Bowl in California.
If size is an issue, why not turn to the area’s bigger football stadium? Northwest Stadium has a capacity of over 67,000, and the Commanders are actually kinda good this year.
Unfortunately, the future of this stadium is still up in the air. RFK Stadium is set to be demolished, and with conditions at Northwest Stadium coming under fire in recent years, there is a lot of speculation of the city trying to bring the Commanders back into the city.
While the prospect is exciting, there are hesitations all around, including hesitations on major renovations to the current stadium, hindering its chances for being picked in these fast-approaching tournaments.
D.C. has the infrastructure to support more serious tournament bids, but lacks the final touches that can help it be seriously and consistently considered.
The Bottom Line
This is overall a good opportunity, and a way for the city to see whether or not it should invest in a new, bigger stadium. With the vast diversity in the area it doesn’t matter who comes to play, there will be passion and excitement to go around.
The city can handle it, but it needs to be ready for it, and I’d like to hope that a year is enough time.
