Buckhead Village hosts watch party for 2026 World Cup draw
Soccer Fans approach the stage in advance of the World Cup Drawing event Photo by Sarra Sedghi FIFA s Atlanta Host Committee and Atlanta United held an official watch party for the World Cup s final draw at Buckhead Village on Friday Dec The U S National Men s Organization USMNT was placed into Group D with opening opponent Paraguay and Australia The group s fourth and final association won t be determined until a playoff between Turkey Romania Slovakia and Kosovo in March Starting around p m a large screen on Buckhead Avenue streamed Fox Sports coverage of the Final Draw event in Washington D C The event included a covered area lined with booths from organizations such as Atlanta United Explore Georgia and the Atlanta Convention Visitors Bureau A great number of of the booths offered games and chances to win free items such as baseball caps koozies and stickers DJ EU manned the stage before the announcements further amping up the crowd Sports commentator Mike Conti emceed while Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan helped host the event and fans were given an opportunity to meet U S athlete Walker Zimmerman The watch party concluded with a drawing for two tickets to an official World Cup match in Atlanta As one of host cities across North America Atlanta will host eight matches including a semifinal next summer The World Cup will feature teams a first for the event The world s teams were split into confederations based on their continent of origin Not all contenders have been determined as qualifiers are still ongoing No two teams from the same confederation can land in the same group that is unless they encounter each other in the finals According to FIFA s match schedule Atlanta will host five group-stage games in total one contest from groups A C and K and two games from group H Brad Guzan and Mike Conti opening the World Cup Drawing watch party in Buckhead Village Photo by Sarra Sedghi The amount of teams playing or split among host countries wasn t FIFA s only differentiation this year During the ceremony FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented U S President Donald Trump with the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize Trump s appearance drew mixed reactions from the crowd Fabiola Flores a Mexico fan mentioned she s very excited to watch her squad play next year As a member of Group A Mexico has a slight chance of playing in Atlanta s corresponding match I have been watching the World Cup since I was little she explained I m super excited to see all the diversity flying in from all sorts of different countries Jason Wells a longtime USMNT fan enjoyed watching the draw with other local soccer fans FIFA Atlanta s stage in advance of the screening Photo by Sarra Sedghi The event was good It was fun The actual draw itself was really favorable for the U S as far as our opponents he commented I think for the games for the four groups that are going to be playing in Atlanta there s particular very gripping matchups that could potentially be here Wells is also looking forward to the France-Senegal Croatia-England and USA-Paraguay matches I m a big Miguel Almir n fan from here in Atlanta for Atlanta United so I think USA-Paraguay is going to be a good matchup he commented Meet the official mascots for the FIFA World Cup Frantzley Raymond a lifelong Haiti fan is excited for his squad s placement in Group C The present day was my day off so it was a great thing for me to be here and enjoy it he stated The FIFA World Cup will run from June to July Fans stood for hours in the cold to watch the World Cup Draw en masse Photo by Sarra Sedghi The post Buckhead Village hosts watch party for World Cup draw appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta
