If you’re a North Texan who’s a soccer fan of a particular national team or star player, your hopes for Friday’s long-anticipated official draw for the 2026 World Cup are obvious.
But if you’re generally soccer-passionate and mostly want AT&T Stadium’s World Cup-high nine matches to produce maximum intrigue, visibility and economic impact, what would be your dream draw?
FC Dallas President and World Cup historian Dan Hunt fits the latter fan category. His response to the draw question is there’s no right or wrong answer. Regardless, he said, North Texas is in a win-win position “as the epicenter of World Cup.”
In Hunt’s opinion, that makes the next two days akin to Christmas arriving early, as Friday’s 11 a.m. draw and Saturday morning’s full 104-match schedule reveal will unwrap the mystery of which teams will and might play in AT&T Stadium.
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“The draw,” Hunt said, “is an incredibly big deal.”
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Soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, has chosen to milk the suspense over two mornings, but that isn’t deterring bars throughout the area from hosting Friday draw watch parties, including the North Texas World Cup committee’s official gathering at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth.
The draw itself will take place in Washington, D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and will be aired and streamed globally. The draw will determine the 48-team tournament’s 12 groups of four — and reveal which groups will have matches in AT&T Stadium during next June’s group stage.
On Saturday morning, the specific pairings and kickoff times will be announced for AT&T Stadium’s group stage matches on June 14, 17, 22, 25 and 27. Also revealed will be the times for AT&T Stadium’s June 30 and July 3 round of 32 matches; July 6 round of 16 game; and the July 14 semifinal.
Soccer fans around the world, who thus far have purchased nearly 2 million World Cup tickets, will be scrambling this weekend to book airfare, hotel, AirBnB and rental car reservations.
“People ask, ‘What are your hopes and wants and desires for this?’” said Hunt, who co-chairs the North Texas World Cup organizing committee with Nina Vaca.
“My hopes and wants are that it grows the game. That it raises the relevance of our domestic league [Major League Soccer]. That it inspires kids who say, ‘You know what, I might actually pick soccer.’ ”
A recent Colliers report projects World Cup matches will generate about $2.1 billion in economic activity in North Texas and draw more than 2.7 million visitors.
“This really is a commercial for Dallas,” Hunt said. “It’s a commercial for why we should have the Women’s World Cup final in 2031. It’s why the Super Bowl should come back.”
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Hunt, 49, is affectionately known by FC Dallas employees as “Soccer Dan” for a reason. He’s attended every World Cup dating to 1986, when he was 10, and estimates he’s attended 110 World Cup matches.
In 1967 his father, Lamar, founded the Dallas Tornado, which won the 1971 North American Soccer League title and finished second two years later. Lamar’s advocacy of soccer was instrumental in Dallas’ Cotton Bowl hosting six matches during the 1994 World Cup.
Dan Hunt and the Dallas Sports Commission began to spearhead North Texas’ 2026 World Cup organizing efforts in late 2017. More than four years later, on June 16, 2022, Arlington was named one of 16 World Cup cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Then 598 days passed before, on Feb. 4, 2024, the dates and sites for all 104 matches were announced. That began a 670-day countdown to Friday’s draw.
Once the 12 groups and match sites are determined, the 188 days until next June’s World Cup opener will be, by comparison, frenetic.
Over the next two days, there’s a major facet for fans to consider in terms of rooting interest in the draw and match schedule: In the next few weeks, teams will select where they will establish their base camp leading into and during the World Cup.
Typically, teams factor in the geographic location of their matches, quality of facilities and, of course, availability.
FIFA has approved six North Texas locations as potential base camps: FC Dallas’ Toyota Stadium and training facilities; the University of North Texas; TCU; University of Dallas; Dallas Baptist; and Mansfield.
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Hunt said he can’t divulge specific names, but that representatives from most of the soccer powers have toured FC Dallas’ facilities in Frisco. At one point FC Dallas believed it might be possible to host two base camps, but FIFA is capping each base camp at one team.
The base camp selection process is similar to a draft. Teams get to select one-by-one, in order of their world ranking.
The current top 10 ranking, in order, is Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Croatia. During a World Cup 101 session with North Texas media in September at Toyota Stadium, Hunt was asked which nation he’d most like to see train in Frisco.
“You’re really gonna put me in a bad spot, because if you say one, another will be mad,” he said with a laugh. “I’m hopeful that a global top 10 picks here.”
During his first World Cup, in 1986 in Mexico, Hunt became a fan of Brazil and Holland because his parents, Lamar and Norma, liked those teams.
But each soccer power has a passionate fan base, which would bring weeks of their country’s unique flavor and traditions to North Texas.
“It would be unbelievable if we got all six [training] venues filled here,” Hunt said. “I think that’s a long shot, but I easily could see at least four.”
The United States team will train on the West Coast. The Canadian and Mexican teams, likewise, will train and play early matches on home soil. But with 45 other potential nations in play, North Texans can expect a fascinating influx of international culture.
“Can you imagine having the passion of the Brazilian fans?” Hunt asked. “Or the Dutch fans? Can you imagine welcoming that to pockets of DFW? I think it would be just spectacular.”
‘A huge moment’
During the World Cup 101 session in September, panelist and veteran FC Dallas reporter Garrett Melcer noted another rooting interest for local fans: great stories.
Certainly it would be compelling for AT&T Stadium to host reigning World Cup champion Argentina; or Brazil, which remarkably has qualified for all 23 World Cups; or England, making its eighth straight appearance since failing to qualify for the last World Cup here in ‘94; or Spain, making its 17th appearance and 13th straight.
And naturally fans would love to see 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal in likely his last World Cup; and 39-year-old Lionel Messi of Argentina; and Kylian Mbappé of France; and Harry Kane of England.
Even if some of those established teams and stars don’t play here in group play, chances are strong of seeing some or all of them in the round of 32, 16 or semifinal matches.
But as Melcer pointed out, sometimes lesser-known stories can be the most profound. For example, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cabo Verde and Curaçao will be making their World Cup debuts.
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Curaçao has a population of just over 150,000, making it the smallest World Cup participant ever, surpassing Iceland (350,000) in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“It’ll be really exciting for those nations,” Melcer said. “It’s probably one of the best moments in their sporting history.”
Melcer also cited Haiti, making its first World Cup appearance since 1974. That’s a remarkable feat given that Haiti is so consumed by political instability, poverty and extreme gang violence that the soccer team couldn’t play World Cup qualifying matches there.
“It’s the first time a lot of Haitians will see their national team playing in the World Cup,” he said. “And I think the opportunity there for you guys as storytellers is because DFW is so diverse, there’s going to be populations from these smaller nations who qualify.
“That would be a huge moment for these populations here, to see their national team potentially play in Dallas. Or at least play in the U.S.”
So what should North Texas’ rooting interests be the next two days? Just sit back and wait. Regardless, big matches, big names and big storylines will be here next summer.
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