KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Leaders from across the country - including Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas - met with FIFA officials Thursday as the 2026 World Cup draws closer.
Lucas, in Washington, D.C., as part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday.
Mayor Lucas met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino today at the @usmayors Winter Meeting. Kansas City is excited to host World Cup 2026 matches and welcome international teams to the city. pic.twitter.com/70Hj9R1jmL
— Mayor Quinton Lucas (@MayorLucasKC) January 29, 2026
The visit comes as Kansas City is making final preparations to host six World Cup matches between mid-June and mid-July this summer. The Kansas City region is also poised to serve as a base camp for as many as four countries during the World Cup.
In an interview Wednesday on CNN, Lucas spoke about joint efforts to ensure the World Cup environment is safe and welcoming for fans visiting Kansas City.
Those efforts include local, state and federal collaboration on security and training.
Lucas is also working to reassure fans that they’ll be welcome when they arrive in Kansas City.
“We are working with consular bureaus from around the world, obviously, for the countries that are coming,” Lucas said Wednesday. “I hope people do come to America.”
On the federal level, Lucas said the Kansas City region is working with the White House FIFA Task Force.
“We work well with them,” Lucas said of the task force. “That being said, I think what we’ve tried to say, and make clear, is we want more people. We have invested a lot of money into getting people here. We need to make sure that works.”
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