Has Atlanta become the "Soccer Capital of the USA" ahead of 2026 World Cup?

For many years Atlanta, Georgia has been positioning itself as a leading contender to become soccer's hub in the United States of America.

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Many U.S. cities have staked claims that they are at the center of the soccer world in the USA for a variety of reasons, but it feels like Atlanta has now pulled ahead.

With the World Cup less than a year away, Atlanta has a very strong argument that it has become the "Soccer Capital of the USA" as it continues to host huge games across several tournaments and invest millions into the growth of the game locally and nationally.

And now they're ready to crank things up several notches in ATL to hammer home their meteoric rise.

“We know it’s the soccer capital of the U.S.”

"Hopefully it solidifies the fact that Atlanta is the soccer capital of the U.S.," Adam Fullerton, vice president of stadium operations at Mercedes-Benz Stadium said of the opportunity the next 12 months brings.

"We've got the U.S. Soccer training facility relocating to Atlanta. Atlanta United continue to break attendance records throughout the MLS and throughout the world. We know it's the soccer capital of the U.S. Hopefully it solidifies that and truly puts us on the world stage, puts Atlanta on the map for all to recognize that this is a sports city, it's a hospitality city, and it's one that really, really loves the sport of soccer."

Atlanta hosted big Club World Cup games as Lionel Messi starred in ATL this summer, has the best supported team in MLS by some distance in terms of average attendance at 44,938 per game, are hosting Premier League Summer Series games (just like it did in 2023) next week and will be hosting eight games at the 2026 World Cup next summer. Only Dallas will host more World Cup games in 2026, as Atlanta also has a World Cup semifinal game on July 15 next year.

Arthur Blank, the owner of both the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, has invested over $50 million of his own money to help build a new state of the art HQ and training center for U.S. Soccer in Atlanta. Blank continues to provide funding for Atlanta United to continue their growth on and off the field, as the city has become a true hub for soccer in America.

Atlanta has invested heavily in soccer

It's clear the sport is only going in one direction in Atlanta.

Garth Lagerwey is the president and chief executive of Atlanta United, the city's hugely successful MLS team, and is a key figure in so much of the good work going on in the soccer scene in Atlanta.

Speaking to Pro Soccer Talk before announcing he was taking an indefinite leave of absence due to a cancer diagnosis — Atlanta United said in a recent statement that "the prognosis of a complete recovery is encouraging" — Lagerwey is extremely excited about showing off Atlanta to the world in the next year, and beyond.

"You know, we've really run the gamut," Lagerwey explained. "We've proven that there's an audience for all things soccer in Atlanta. And one of the really cool things is we helped bring U.S. Soccer to relocate to Atlanta. Mr. Blank made a big investment. That'll have a massive impact on the Atlanta soccer community as well, and we are really, really happy that they are joining us. I think it's just going to be a consistently terrific footprint for soccer here in Atlanta going forward."

What is the driving force behind what Atlanta United and Blank are creating in the City of Atlanta?

"What we want is to grow the game, right? All of us here in the soccer ecosystem, when you're talking about soccer in the United States, it's not going to be the number one sport," Lagerwey said. "But we work as part of the Arthur M. Blank Sports and Entertainment (AMBSE) with the Falcons. And it's really cool. And it is an awesome thing because we can do a whole bunch of things that scale as part of AMBSE that a standalone soccer team could not. So we have the breadth and the benefit of that NFL expertise... And we have to be thoughtful about growing the game. We have to look that we're going to have between Copa America, Club World Cup and World Cup, I think it's close to 20 matches across all three competitions over these summers, close to a million people attending games."

"So if you think of it in those terms, a million people coming from all over the world, if you convert even one percent of those folks to become soccer fans, 10,000 fans, think about the addition to our audience, which is already a 40,000 plus crowd and the biggest in MLS. So there's a massive opportunity for us to create soccer fans... This is a generational opportunity for us to grow the sport."

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Huge initiatives will help grow the game

Lagerwey went on to explain how AMBSE is helping provide opportunities for children and people from underprivileged communities all across the City of Atlanta to play soccer and become involved in the beautiful game for life.

"From a grassroots perspective, Arthur Blank, our owner, has signed something called the Giving Pledge, something that was started by Bill Gates, and it pledges him to give away 95 percent of his wealth," Lagerwey explained. "The significance of that now is we can make massive public contributions to growing the sport. One of the most recent was $5 million given to public schools to introduce soccer in elementary schools. So now you're talking about after school programs with every single kid playing.

"On top of that, we started something called the Georgia 100. The aspiration that over a decade or more we're going to build 100 soccer pitches for underprivileged communities. We're at 15 completed so far. I believe we have 50 that are committed, in the pipeline and that are planned. We partner with Soccer in the Streets to deliver soccer access to underprivileged communities specifically. And then we also have something called Station Soccer, which is a partnership with MARTA, which is the public transport artery in Atlanta, to construct soccer pitches next to MARTA stations. It's a really cool idea. Because people go to work coming into the city, they can literally stomp off, have a kick about and then get back on the train and go to work or do it on the way home or whatever.

"So we are very conscious that we at AMBSE have the ability to add scale and do things to impact the community. So you say, 'hey, what does this mean to the Atlanta community? What does this mean for the future?' We are very consciously and intentionally building an audience long term. We're filling that grassroots pipeline. We are exposing kids to soccer, who might not otherwise have been, right? We are very cognizant of soccer in America as a white, middle class paid to play sport, and moving away from that."

ATL is made for big events

For fans heading to Atlanta for the Premier League Summer Series next week, the World Cup next summer or just any huge sporting or entertainment event in the future, it's clear this city is designed to host massive crowds and gigantic spectacles.

"The public transportation in Atlanta is phenomenal. From Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, you just jump right on the MARTA and you can end up just on the west side of our building, Vine City," Fullerton explained. "It's the best way to get to the stadium quite honestly, and it's the best way to leave the stadium in a timely manner. Hop on the train, get in and out. And we as a city are really promoting the public transportation and developing a pretty robust mobility plan just to make sure that fans know how to use the train system and where to go in order to get to and from the stadium in a quick, easy, safe manner."

That accessibility away from soccer is important, but it's also important to Atlanta to not only have a large dedicated fanbase of soccer fans who live in the city but are coming in from all over the world.

"It's really important to us that we're accessible and attractive to international soccer," Lagerwey explained. "We put 70,000 people in the building for Chelsea against Newcastle [in the 2023 Summer Series]. Now, it didn't hurt that Miggy Almon was playing for Newcastle, the former and now again star for Atlanta United. But I think that was if not the best attended match in that series, one of the best. And so we have a proven fanbase for that... I think there's a lot of bars in America now where on a Saturday morning, you can come in and pull a pint and watch the Premier League on NBC. I think that's almost assumed at this point, right? And certainly you can do that for Atlanta, but for us, the pride that we would take would be not just in Premier League, but in international soccer, because we believe that's what our sport does, as it brings people together from all over the world and has a unique global appeal, and certainly that's part of the appeal of the Premier League. That's why we're excited to have Manchester United and others in the building on the heels of Club World Cup where for us it's all parts of the same parcel, so to speak. We are committed to hosting lots of good, high profile teams and big stars and big fanbases."

The stadium itself, which cost close to $2 billion to build, is one of the best on the planet and add that with Atlanta's airport being the busiest in the world and so well connected, top hotels being plentiful downtown and travel across the city being relatively easy, Atlanta is a great place for fans to meet.

"It's a wonderful city and it's a beautiful stadium. I truly think it's one of a kind. It's a world class venue," Fullerton said. "Our staff at the stadium is top notch. We're voted number one in Voice of the Fan in the NFL, like year over year. Our food and beverage program is ridiculously inexpensive. We have this fan friendly pricing. You know, that tone is set from our owner, Mr. Blank, and it's all about hospitality and taking care of the guests."

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Soccer set to be a huge part of Atlanta’s future

Around the stadium there are huge areas where fans can congregate, and of course tailgating is a key part of the experience, while restaurants, bars, hotels and other venues surrounding the Mercedes-Benz Stadium create the perfect area for supporters to celebrate, connect and create wonderful memories together.

"Come down and check out that southern hospitality here in Atlanta!" Fullerton said. "There will be a lot of a lot of activity and a lot of fun to be had in and around the stadium. I can already taste the barbecue ribs in the parking lot, for sure. Driving in on game day, some folks, man, they start those smokers up at like 4 a.m. and you can just smell it all over the place. Oh, yeah. It's a difficult drive to not stop and ask for a bite!

"And I truly know that when you step foot in our venue, you're going to feel that love and that welcomeness, and you're going to be able to get a pretty cheap hot dog and a pretty cheap beer and not break the bank while you're here. So we welcome all, and we're excited for it. Hopefully the second you step foot in Atlanta, you feel that southern charm and that welcome message is loud and strong."

Lagerwey believes that Atlanta's incredible diversity, vibrant cultural, historical significance and unique demographics make it the perfect place for soccer to continue to thrive for many years to come.

"Folks outside the U.S. might not know ATL as a cultural mecca, meaning specifically around fashion and music and African American culture," Lagerwey explained. "The Martin Luther King historical site that's here celebrating some of the civil rights movement. But more broadly than that, there is a real cultural piece here with young people where it allows soccer to be paired with this kind of urban and up and coming younger demographic. Which, again, I think bodes well for that soccer audience going forward. We are not only diverse, but we're pretty young. And so that connection to fashion and culture really helps us in terms of how we present our team and our city to the world."