Kick It: 100 days away

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in just under 100 days, bringing soccer mania to North America and, more specifically, the beautiful city of Atlanta.

This is once-in-a-lifetime stuff. Even if you can’t tell the difference between a soccer ball and a basketball, c’mon! It’s the World Cup!

That’s where we come in. AJC Kick It is our special edition newsletter dedicated to giving you the best World Cup experience possible.

Over the next few months, we’ll share the best bars, restaurants, events, fan gatherings, cultural trends, insider tips, fascinating facts, big team storylines and cool local lore to get you ready for whatever kind of experience you’re after.

Like what you see? Sign up for future Kick It emails here.

👀 This edition, we’ll go over the basics and then look at some of the big issues facing Atlanta as the tournament draws near.

FIRST, LET’S GET ON THE SAME PAGE

Mercedes-Benz? We don't know her. That's "Atlanta's Stadium" to you.

Grab your calendars, highlighters and shiny planner stickers so we can get some dates straight. These are all of the matches that will be played in Atlanta over the course of the World Cup.

All games will be played at the venue you know as Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Don’t call it that, though! It’s “Atlanta’s Stadium” now. Or at least, during the World Cup it is.

• June 15, Mon: Spain v. Cabo Verde
• June 18, Thurs: TBD v. South Africa (Group Stage)
• June 21, Sun: Spain v. Saudi Arabia (Group Stage)
• June 24, Wed: Morocco v. Haiti (Group Stage)
• June 27, Sat: TBD v. Uzbekistan (Group Stage)
• July 1, Wed: TBD v. TBD (Knockout Stage)
• July 7, Tues: TBD v. TBD (Round of 16)
• July 15, Wed: TBD v. TBD (Semifinal)

That’s a lot of TBDs! We’ll talk more about the different stages of the tournament in a later edition.

⚽ More key World Cup dates

⚽ A handy World Cup primer (104 matches in all! Wow.)

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Looking forward to proving Atlanta is an international city and a SOCCER city.

Yes, obviously we’re all looking forward to the matches and the general pageantry, but there are other cool things happening in Atlanta and on the pitch as well.

👾 New and expanded in-game tech: This is wild. A relatively new technology scans players’ bodies and tracks them on the field. If a player, say, goes offsides, refs immediately get an alert. Referees will also wear body cameras and, of course, AI will be in abundant use.

🤑 Job opportunities: Looking for a part-time gig or side hustle? The World Cup could be a great opportunity. More than 100 employers, including MARTA, State Farm Arena, the Georgia World Congress Center and local hotels, met with candidates at a recent workforce expo.

🍻 Open container laws?! Yes, it’s a possibility. The Atlanta City Council is considering a regulation change that would create an “entertainment district” in South Downtown to allow for legal drinking outside in time for this summer’s tournament. Bonus: It wouldn’t just be for the World Cup.

THINGS TO FRET ABOUT

While we love our city, no one ever said it’s perfect. If you want to be the (well-informed, totally reasonable) downer in your next World Cup convo, here’s what we’re stressing about:

🛡️ Security risks: The games will bring all manner of international fans and foreign dignitaries, so we want to make the city a welcoming place. Atlanta leaders and watchdog groups have had serious conversations on how to handle Immigrations and Customs Enforcement presence, since recent violent incidents have made international news.

🚇 Public transit in general: MARTA has had to push back several projects that were supposed to be completed before the summer’s tournaments. Some work near the Beltline was scrapped altogether. A fleet of shiny new train cars will now debut just days before Atlanta’s World Cup matches. Recent breakdowns and derailments aren’t inspiring confidence. Still, MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood says the transit agency will be ready.

HALFTIME QUIZ!

The classic soccer ball is in the shape of a truncated icosahedron (20-sided solid) made up of interlocking black pentagons and white hexagons.

❓Here’s your question: How many white panels, and how many black panels, are on a regular, standard-issue soccer ball?

I’ll put the answer in Match Notes at the bottom.

IN THIS HOUSE WE ROOT FOR: UZBEKISTAN

There's our guy, Uzbekistan midfielder Azizbek Turgunboev!

We are equal opportunity hype people, and over the next few months we’ll introduce you to some new teams and fandoms to obsess over. Let’s start with a jewel of Central Asia.

The Uzbekistan national team will reportedly use Atlanta United’s complex in Marietta as its training base while in town for their matches. That makes them honorary Atlantans, and we simply have to stan.

• This is Uzbekistan’s first time in the World Cup. Hooray!
• Uzbekistan’s colors, reflected in their flag, are green, white and blue.
• They’re currently No. 52 on FIFA’s world rankings.
• Their team is known as the White Wolves.
• Sometimes they’re also called the Huma birds. A Huma bird is a mythical bird in several Middle Eastern traditions. It’s not so different from the phoenix, actually, which we all know is an Atlanta symbol. See?! It was meant to be.

WHAT’S COMING UP NEXT

Thanks for sticking around! Here’s a preview of what we’ll cover in future editions of Kick It:

• The pros and cons of renting out your Atlanta home to make some extra cash.
• Local expat scenes and hot spots, because international competitions bring out the raging national pride in us all.
• What to do if you have misjudged the size of the Atlanta area and accidentally got a hotel in Alpharetta.
• How Atlanta shaped the country’s youth soccer program.
• The basics of soccer, so you can confidently call offsides all on your own.
• And much, much more!

⚽ If you’re not signed up, get on board here! Our next send will be in early April, and we’ll come to you more frequently as June and July approach.

MATCH NOTES

Quiz answer: A classic soccer ball has 20 white (hexagonal) panels and 12 black (pentagonal) panels. We’ll talk more about soccer ball geometry in a later issue. It’s painfully fascinating.