Hospitals and health systems across 11 U.S. host cities have spent months preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off June 11.
The tournament, slated to be the largest in history, is expected to bring millions of international visitors to North America for 104 matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Health system leaders have readied on all fronts for what a monthlong influx of global visitors could mean for emergency departments, infectious disease surveillance, trauma capacity and public health infrastructure.
Seven things to know:
1. The tournament’s scale. The 2026 World Cup is the first to span three countries and the first to feature 48 participating nations, up from 32. The U.S. will host 78 matches, including every game from the quarterfinals onward, across 11 host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle. Dallas will host more matches than any other venue — nine in the Dallas-Arlington area alone — followed by Houston with seven. The final will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
2. Infectious disease concerns. Infectious diseases are a key public health concern amid the World Cup.
Ebola has dominated public discourse ahead of the tournament, driven by an active outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern. But infectious disease experts say the operational risk for hospitals is considerably lower than the headlines suggest, and that measles deserves at least as much attention.
“While indeed Ebola is in the forefront as a high consequence pathogen, we are also preparing for an increase in respiratory illnesses, such as COVID, influenza and the other respiratory viruses, as well as diarrheal diseases,” Luis Ostrosky, MD, chief of infectious diseases for UTHealth Houston and chief of epidemiology for Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, told Becker’s.
Dr. Ostrosky said vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles are of particular concern.
“We will be having guests from countries with lower vaccination rates than the U.S. and with crowding and pockets of lower vaccination coverage locally, this could be a setup for a major outbreak,” he said.
The U.S. has recorded more than 2,000 measles cases this year, CDC data shows. This figure puts 2026 on pace to surpass the full-year 2025 total with roughly half the year remaining. Canada and Mexico have had large outbreaks this year as well, meaning all three host countries are entering the tournament with active measles transmission, according to CNN.
The tournament’s expanded footprint means infectious disease threats can move across cities as fans travel with their teams. A measles exposure in Atlanta, for example, could have consequences days later in another host city after fans have moved on, according to the report.
Infectious disease specialists are also monitoring a broader set of threats.
Dengue is a particular worry in host cities such as Miami, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles, where matches are scheduled during peak mosquito season and where the mosquito species capable of spreading the virus are already established, The Washington Post reported June 10. Public health experts warn that visitors carrying the virus could create opportunities for local transmission in communities where the vector is already present.
Sexually transmitted infections are a recurring concern at major sporting events and mass gatherings, driven by the combination of large visitor populations, nightlife activity and temporary social networks. Experts do not view them as an acute outbreak threat in the same category as measles or dengue, but they are part of preparedness planning, according to the Post. Memorial Hermann has also flagged elevated demand for sexual assault nurse examiner services as an operational reality for which the system is preparing.
3. Emergency department planning. Emergency managers are preparing for a range of noninfectious threats that could strain ED volume and throughput.
“Outside of infectious disease, our focused threats to ED volume are mass casualty events, cyberattacks and decontamination events,” Adam Lee, director of emergency management and organizational resilience for Memorial Hermann, told Becker’s. “Each of these impact ED volume and throughput in different ways and ultimately is dependent on what happens. The key takeaway across all these threats is that response cannot occur in isolation and takes partnerships.”
Memorial Hermann has worked with local, state and federal agencies to conduct tabletop exercises and full-scale drills. For example, at Memorial Hermann Cypress (Texas) Hospital, the system partnered with a local university to have medical students act as patients and coordinated with its Life Flight program, multiple EMS agencies and its Regional Advisory Council to simulate a mass casualty response.
Heat-related illness is another significant concern, particularly in Southern host cities.
“Crowds plus sun plus summer temperatures plus physical exertion plus alcohol is a combination that sends people to emergency rooms every year,” Katelyn Jetelina, PhD, an epidemiologist and former senior CDC adviser, wrote in her public health newsletter, according to CNN. University Health in Kansas City has added ice storage capacity in its emergency department specifically for heat-related illness treatment, according to KCUR.
Kansas City health leaders also flagged traffic congestion as a compounding risk that could delay response to medical emergencies, according to the report.
“There’s a lot of impact that just comes by having an increased population in the city,” Jennifer Watts, MD, associate chief medical officer for acute care and inpatient services at Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, told KCUR. “It’s going to be an impact that will be felt across our entire region.”
4. Surge capacity and staffing. Across host cities, health systems have been building out surge capacity for months.
Dallas-based Medical City Healthcare has deployed emergency medical tents at its Medical City Arlington and Medical City Frisco hospitals to handle potential patient surges, with other system hospitals prepared to do the same if needed, according to a June 2 news release. The tents are intended for non-life-threatening emergencies. Medical City Arlington, a level 2 trauma center located about seven miles from where matches will take place at AT&T Stadium, is the closest high-level trauma facility to the venue.
Memorial Hermann has aligned its existing mass casualty drill requirements with World Cup-specific scenarios, including highly infectious disease preparedness and decontamination operations. The system has also prepared for elevated Life Flight utilization and enhanced coordination with external partners, according to information shared with Becker’s.
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare operates hospitals in seven host cities and is running a systemwide command center at its headquarters to monitor World Cup events — both sanctioned and unsanctioned — throughout its markets to anticipate potential challenges, according to KCUR.
In Kansas City, health systems have been planning for 18 months. Organizers estimate up to 650,000 visitors could arrive during the tournament, which could represent a patient traffic increase of 6% to 8% over the course of the event, according to KCUR.
Local hospital leaders have scheduled extra physicians and nurses for match days and have plans in place to quickly scale staffing as needed. St. Luke’s, which serves the West region of St. Louis-based BJC Health, is also doubling medical staff at four urgent care locations, according to the report.
5. International patients. Another preparedness focus involves patient communication and education. For visitors arriving from countries with single-payer or government-run healthcare systems, the nation’s patchwork model of freestanding emergency rooms, urgent care centers, surgery centers and hospitals is unfamiliar territory.
International patients who seek care for a minor injury at an ED could face a dramatically higher bill than at an urgent care facility, and many may not realize it until the bill arrives.
Kansas City health systems have been working to get ahead of that confusion.
“All of our health systems have been working together to share information about how to best work with and take care of patients coming from single-payer countries,” Bryan Beaver, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Kansas City, Kan.-based University of Kansas Health System who is leading the metropolitan area’s medical coordination for the World Cup, told KCUR.
St. Luke’s is offering urgent care as a cash service for international visitors — an affordable, walk-in option designed to keep less serious cases out of hospital emergency departments, according to the report. Hospitals across the city have also added language translation services and translated signage and patient information into multiple languages. HCA pharmacists have briefed clinicians on the different names used for common medications in other countries, according to KCUR.
6. Uncompensated care. World Cup visitors are encouraged to purchase travel insurance that covers medical expenses, but health leaders are clear-eyed about the reality: Some patients will arrive uninsured, receive care and leave without paying.
“In any emergency department, we will always treat the patient that walks in the door,” Dr. Watts of Children’s Mercy told KCUR. “That is hands down emergency medicine. … Will we end up getting reimbursed for that? Maybe, maybe not. It is unclear, unknown.”
Charlie Shields, CEO of University Health — a safety-net hospital located closest to the site of the World Cup Fan Fest in Kansas City — said he is not particularly concerned about one-time uninsured cases from international visitors, noting the volume would be far less than the number of uninsured patients the hospital regularly treats.
Dr. Watts said there are ongoing conversations about whether some of Kansas City’s World Cup public funding should be shared with hospitals to offset uncompensated care costs, though the local organizing committee did not respond to questions about whether that is under consideration, according to KCUR.
7. New surveillance infrastructure. Alongside hospital-level preparations, a new layer of public health surveillance infrastructure has been stood up for the tournament.
Georgetown University and Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health’s National Center for Health Security and Resilience has established a Health Security Operations Center that became operational June 1. The center is pulling together wastewater surveillance data, hospitalization data, traveler data and international disease alerts to build a surveillance system to detect known and potential unknown pathogens, according to CNN.
In Texas, infectious disease specialists and state health officials have established a round-the-clock consultation hotline staffed by 15 to 20 adult and pediatric infectious disease specialists within the University of Texas health system, according to the Post. The hotline is designed to give real-time guidance to clinicians — including those at community hospitals, urgent care clinics and EDs — who may not regularly evaluate rare or travel-associated infections. The service will also be available to medical staff working with World Cup teams.
The CDC is also developing a World Cup data dashboard and has tools capable of identifying unusual patterns in surveillance data in near real time, according to CNN. The federal government also awarded $625 million to host cities through FEMA’s FIFA World Cup Grant Program, though it was unclear as of late May whether host cities had received those funds or how the money could be spent specifically on health protection, according to CNN.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.