FIFA, the world football association, has begun efforts to recruit 26,000 volunteers for the World Cup football tournament to be held in America next year. The organization said that such a large number of volunteers are needed for the world’s most prestigious and popular tournament, which will feature 48 countries for the first time, due to the increase in the number of participating teams and host cities. FIFA has decided to hold this tournament in Canada and Mexico in addition to the United States. As such, matches will be played in 16 regions across these three countries. The tournament, lasting a total of 39 days, will begin on June 11 next year.
“Volunteers are the heart and soul of FIFA tournaments. Therefore, the help of volunteers will be greatly needed for this tournament as well. Especially if we can get volunteers from the regions where the tournament is being played, it will be very convenient,” said FIFA President Infantino. FIFA estimates that 6.5 million people will attend this tournament. This includes 3.7 million people from the United States, 1.5 million people in Mexico, and 1.3 million people in Canada. The last FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar. According to FIFA statistics, 1.6 billion people watched this tournament. Expanding the World Cup to 48 teams is something that some countries are very unhappy about.
However, FIFA said that this is the biggest tournament held every four years, and that FIFA also prioritizes giving more countries the opportunity to experience the World Cup. They also stated that there would be no issues arising from the increased number of matches or the extended duration of the tournament.
