Dan Fumano: Vancouver prepares for kickoff of 2026 FIFA World Cup

Preparations are well underway for Vancouver to host part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with local officials travelling overseas and trying to figure out how to accommodate the city’s biggest international event since the Olympics.

The global men’s soccer tournament is about 3½ years away, not a huge amount of time for an event this size. That should be enough time to install grass fields to meet FIFA’s meticulous standards — but it would be tough to meaningfully increase the number of hotel rooms, as the local tourism industry has long advocated and municipal politicians hope to do.

The City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Department, and the B.C. Pavilion Corporation all sent representatives to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year as part of official observer programs.

PavCo, the provincial Crown corporation that operates B.C. Place, venue for Vancouver’s 2026 matches, sent three representatives to Qatar. A facility operations director was there for a week in November learning about fields and facilities. PavCo chief operating officer, Rehana Din, and Chris May, general manager of B.C. Place, flew there in December.