FIFA and Miami Dade College hosted a discussion panel Wednesday morning at the Freedom Tower ahead of World Cup 2026, celebrating soccer’s growing impact in Miami and across the United States.
The event featured FIFA President Gianni Infantino, MDC President Madeline Pumariega, Miami World Cup 2026 co-chair Rodney Barreto, Jorge Mas, and other leaders.
The panel was followed by a guided tour of the FIFA Museum exhibit, which was announced in 2024 as part of a collaboration between FIFA and Miami Dade College.
At the time of the announcement, Infantino described the exhibit as an opportunity to connect the sport’s history with education.
“An exhibit from the FIFA museum about the history of football, the history of football in the Americas in particular, but all over the world, which is a history of opportunity, which is a history of chance and which links together with the educational purpose of an incredible institution like Miami Dade College, with which we are collaborating as well when it comes to internships in FIFA and lecturers at Miami Dade College courses through and with some professionals from FIFA. We are here to work together, we are here in Miami and will have great fun on top of it,” Infantino said at the time.
Telemundo is the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and will air all 104 matches from June 11 through July 19, 2026. Ninety-two matches will air on Telemundo and 12 on Universo, marking the most Men’s World Cup matches ever carried by a U.S. broadcast network.
Portions of this story were translated from Spanish with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool. An NBC 6 editor reviewed the translation.