Lumen Field will host a total of six Club World Cup matches next summer, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced shortly after visiting the stadium on Monday. Infantino is scheduled to tour the Longacres training facility today. The Seattle Sounders had previously announced that they would be hosting all three of their own group stage matches.
While no other details were made immediately available, it would appear that two of the eight groups will be based on the West Coast. The Rose Bowl was also previously announced as a host and it would certainly make logistical sense to have eight teams shuttle between these two stadiums for their group stage games rather than flying them across the country to one of the other 10 host stadiums before the knockout rounds.
Jeremiah Oshan
The upshot is that this greatly increases the chances that at least one, if not more, of the big-name participants will play matches locally. But exactly who those teams will be won’t be known until the draw, which is expected to happen in December.
