By Coral Gables Gazette staff
For years, the United States, Mexico and Canada – the joint hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup – have known that next summer will likely be the biggest sports season in global history. The expanded 48-team tournament is the largest World Cup ever staged, and with games spread across three nations, everything about the event is outsized. But one crucial element has remained a mystery: where and against whom each country will play.
That uncertainty ends this Friday, December 5, when the official FIFA World Cup Draw is held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The draw, always a spectacle in its own right, sets the stage for the tournament and shapes its early storylines. For many nations with little realistic chance of advancing far, an “easy” group draw offers more excitement than the matches themselves.
The Coral Gables–based FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee has spent more than a year preparing South Florida for its titanic moment. To it, the draw is more than theater – it’s the green light for a massive acceleration of work. According to the committee’s Chief Marketing and Community Officer, Janelle Prieto, the tempo “will definitely pick up once we know the teams that will be playing in Miami.” Prieto and Host Committee President & CEO Alina Hudak will both be in Washington for the draw.
Locally, fans can attend a major draw viewing party hosted by FIFA at the Doral Amphitheater, while Coral Gables soccer loyalists can gather at Fritz & Franz Bierhaus, the city’s unofficial home of global football. The draw begins at noon, with local festivities starting at 11 a.m.
Prieto said the results of the draw could dramatically shape Miami’s experience. “Imagine if we get Argentina,” she said, referencing the World Champions’ enormous South Florida fan base – a contingent that effectively overtook the region during this summer’s Club World Cup. And with Inter Miami, led by Argentine legend Lionel Messi, hosting the largest soccer match in South Florida history at Saturday’s MLS Cup final, the sport’s momentum in the region is already near fever pitch.
Next year’s opening of Inter Miami’s new Freedom Park stadium – a mere two miles from Coral Gables’ northern edge – further positions the city at the heart of the action.
Helping local businesses prepare for Miami’s largest sporting event ever
Prieto said one of the Host Committee’s biggest responsibilities is ensuring small businesses understand what’s coming. “There’s an education piece in every host city,” she noted. Unlike other World Cup sites where sports commissions lead planning, Miami’s now-defunct sports commission was previously absorbed by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. As a result, the Host Committee is operating as an independent startup — similar to a Super Bowl committee — building systems, partnerships, and public-facing tools from scratch.
The committee is creating a marketing toolkit for local businesses, explaining the dos and don’ts of World Cup branding, what restrictions exist, and how merchants can appropriately celebrate the tournament. The Host Committee is also identifying potential locations for auxiliary events – from downtown Miami museums to neighborhood public spaces – that could host exhibitions, parties, or cultural programs tied to the tournament.
Coordinating with local governments and managing massive logistics
Behind the scenes, the Host Committee is working with more than 20 local, state, and federal agencies on transportation, safety, airport operations, and crowd movement. “It’s incredible how everybody is coming together to pull this off,” Prieto said, noting that fans rarely see the scale of coordination involved.
Prieto acknowledged that immigration-related travel anxieties are real but said Miami’s Club World Cup performance – considered one of the most successful hosting efforts globally – shows the region is ready. Visa-acceleration discussions are already underway at the federal level.
Legacy projects aim to make impact long after the final whistle
The Host Committee’s legacy work is already visible across South Florida. Each week, staff are in neighborhoods supporting grassroots fútbol programs, park improvements, nonprofit partnerships, and sustainability initiatives.
One of its first major long-term projects — the Youth World Cup, running from September through late May 2026 — will conclude in Miami just days before the official tournament begins. Billed as the largest youth soccer event in U.S. history, it aims to connect the World Cup’s global spirit with local fields and young athletes.
A region fully activated for 2026
All of this builds on the work outlined by Hudak and committee COO Ray Martinez earlier this year, when they described the massive scale of what lies ahead: fundraising, safety planning, business opportunities, volunteer mobilization, and a 21-day Fan Festival expected to draw “hundreds of thousands.”
“There will not be one spot of Miami that isn’t activated,” Martinez said. “We’re really focused on delivering safety and security with our local and federal partners.”
With just months before kickoff, and the draw about to determine which nations arrive on Miami’s shores, the Host Committee knows the clock is about to tick louder than ever.
