Supporting Soldier Field For World Cup 2018/2022

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Oct 17, 2009 10:00PM

USA's Landon Donovan scores a goal on a penalty kick in a World Cup qualifier against Honduras, played this past summer at Soldier Field; Photo by Senor Codo

Earlier this week, we mentioned the current U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Yesterday, the bid committee announced a new push for cities to show their support for their role in the bid, including Soldier Field. As of this afternoon, Chicago had around 4,500; Seattle is the overall leader with over 13,000 supporters signed up and surprise Atlanta (~11,000) coming in second.

Originally, 58 stadiums expressed interest in hosting World Cup matches, a list that this summer was cut to 45 stadiums in 38 cities. Currently, there are 32 stadiums from 27 cities still in the running to host matches should the U.S. be awarded one of the two tournaments. According to a representative associated with the bid that we spoke with, the list of stadiums will be further cut down to 18 to 20 cities by the time the U.S. submits their bid book to FIFA next May.

What of FIFA's requirements for a stadium? According to a press release from the U.S. bid committee, "FIFA’s criterion requires a candidate host nation to provide a minimum of 12 stadiums and a maximum of 18 capable of seating 40,000 or more spectators. Stadiums with a minimum capacity of 80,000 are required by FIFA for consideration to play host to the Opening Match and Final Match." So what are you waiting for? ">Show Soldier Field some World Cup love.