Statement
The largest FIFA World Cup 2026™ in history brought 48 national teams and millions of visitors to 16 host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico over 39 days. The matches drew the world's attention. The work that kept them healthy did not — and that was the point.
Behind every match, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ran a sustained public health effort to help protect fans, travelers, and the communities that hosted them, an effort years in the making and built on partnerships that reach into all 50 states.
Ready Before the First Whistle
CDC's World Cup response was part of the federal coordination structure led by the White House FIFA World Cup Task Force, an effort formalized months earlier that intensified as the tournament approached. Throughout the event, CDC's Office of Readiness and Response held regular calls with public health officials from all 11 U.S. host sites and federal partners, bringing together experts in epidemiology, laboratory science, and preparedness to share information in real time.
Stronger Together with States & Communities
CDC worked closely with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE)* on Applied Epidemiology Recommendations for Mass Gatherings Preparedness and Response, giving partners and STLT epidemiologists practical recommendations for integrating surveillance, data systems, and staffing into World Cup™ planning.
The agency provided additional on-the-ground support through its fellows from CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS), Public Health Informatics (PHI) programs, and CDC's Career Epidemiology Field Officers (CEFO) and Preparedness Field Assignees (PFA), already stationed in state and local health departments.
A New Tool for a Multi-Day, Multi-Jurisdictional Event
Because fans moved constantly between cities and countries, CDC built a data dashboard that gave health departments a shared, cross-jurisdictional view of disease trends, heat, and air quality within and beyond their own areas, so partners could focus on what mattered most to their communities in real time.
Helping Protect the Nation's Doorstep, Around the Clock
CDC's year-round disease detection infrastructure was fully engaged for the tournament. Its 20 port health stations maintained around-the-clock protocols at U.S. ports of entry, in coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while public health messages met travelers on monitors at major international airports serving host cities. When specific threats emerged, CDC folded World Cup surveillance into its ongoing response work, including its responses to the concurrent international Ebola outbreak, hantavirus outbreak, and measles activity in multiple regions.
Meeting Fans Where They Were
CDC launched cdc.gov/soccer, a one-stop resource giving fans, travelers, and players public health information across 11 topic areas: from travelers' health and heat safety to disease prevention and emergency preparedness. The page connected travelers to their state, tribal, local, and territorial health authorities and linked healthcare providers to clinical resources, meeting people where they were, before, during, and after their trip.
The tournament is over, but the work is not. The same preparedness, surveillance, and partnerships that supported the World Cup are part of CDC's readiness and response mission every day of the year, continuing through the close of the activation on July 31, 2026, and well beyond.
For more information about CDC's public health activities for the tournament, visit cdc.gov/soccer.
*The naming of particular entities is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement, actual or implied, by the US Government.