ATLANTA — The 2026 FIFA World Cup means a major celebration for people in Atlanta. The first match in Atlanta is 10 days away.
The FIFA Fan Fest will happen in a place with some major global sporting history -- Centennial Olympic Park.
Organizers with the Georgia World Congress Center told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen that the last time they went this big was 30 years ago for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Joe Bocherer said it’s the perfect way to celebrate a milestone.
“We’re almost 30 years to the exact week and day of 1996, when this park hosted the Centennial Olympic Games,” Bocherer said.
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Three decades later, it’s the World Cup. And downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park is currently being transformed for FIFA.
Bocherer told Petersen that the construction for FIFA’s Fan Festival is three years in the making.
There will be 18 days, 10 hours a day, of live music, games and VIP appearances.
The number of visitors will be capped at 15,000 per day.
So far, 150,000 free, but upgradeable, tickets have been reserved.
Most of them have been reserved by metro area fans.
“It’s a great moment for us and a full circle moment for the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia. The preparations going into this are probably equal to, if not bigger than, the Olympics,” Bocherer said.
Centennial Olympic Park reopens to the public and FIFA fans on June 11.