There are three host nations for the first time and 48 competing teams for the first time. There will be more matches, more stadiums, more fans and more viewers than at any previous FIFA World Cup™. The FIFA World Cup 2026™ in Canada, Mexico and the United States will be unprecedented in scope – a groundbreaking event that sets new standards in diversity and inclusion. With that historic breadth in mind, FIFA aims to ensure those ambitious standards apply to accessibility as well. On 3 December – two days before the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Final Draw in Washington DC – the United Nations will commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025. Launched in 1992, the initiative is designed to support and call attention to the estimated 1.3 billion people currently living with a significant disability. This year’s theme is “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress”. FIFA has a similar goal for next summer’s World Cup: grow the game by making its unique capacity to spark joy, and its unsurpassed ability to create a sense of genuine belonging, accessible to everyone. To that end, FIFA convened a two-day meeting of its first Accessibility Advisory Board last month in Miami, Florida. Comprised of seven members living with a disability who are renowned or accomplished in their fields, the Board provided FIFA with priceless, personal insight and advice on how next year’s North American World Cup can fulfil its promise and achieve that mission of inclusivity. In the spirit of integration and cooperation, there were representatives from each of the three host nations present.

“Often there are assumptions that come from other people – other people speaking for the community,” said Advisory Board member Jeremy Lee Stone, a consultant, actor and American Sign Language instructor. “Instead, we want to speak for ourselves as people so that we can have a voice. And FIFA is allowing us to express that voice in a safe space, which is something we're really honoured to have and really appreciative of.” The services or amenities required to ensure that fans with additional needs can navigate the stadium on match day while having the most immersive and enjoyable experience possible can be easy to overlook by those who do not require the support. But they can be vital for those who do. By sharing their lived experiences, the Advisory Board members were in position to help ensure that all FIFA World Cup™ fans are accommodated and accounted for. “Sports are for everybody, and anybody can be a fan, including people with disabilities,” said Board member Haley Moss, an attorney, author, artist and advocate who was diagnosed with autism. “People with disabilities make up a large percentage of the global population, and we deserve to be included, seen and heard, and welcomed whether we are at the matches or watching from home, no matter what.”

The potential enhancements and accommodations are myriad. From providing additional logistical information before match day and training stadium staffers and volunteers to assist disabled supporters with way-finding, to sensory rooms, haptic boards for blind/low vision individuals and sign language interpreters for the deaf/hard of hearing, there are a multitude of ways to tailor the FIFA World Cup experience to a more diverse array of fans. “It’s a FIFA World Cup. It’s an event that everyone around the world [anticipates] and everyone around the world looks at,” said Board member Emanuel Garibay Gómez, the CEO of the National Paralympic Committee of Mexico. “Football is the sport with the biggest number of fans around the world, and we need to get everyone involved. We need to make it possible for everyone to reach the stadiums, to reach the venues. And, if we are talking [about] accessibility for people with any type of impairment, that certainly needs to be done.” Board member Lex Gillette is a blind long and triple jumper who has won five Paralympic Games medals and four world championships. “As someone who has a disability, I’ve attended a number of major events like the Super Bowl, March Madness, and things like that. So I have a good bit of experience from going to those events,” he said.

“Some of those experiences were amazing, and some of them could have been improved,” Gillette continued. “So, we want to ensure that FIFA has a great deal of insight, information, guidance, advice that they can use, not only for the upcoming tournament but moving forward because this is going to continue to be an amazing organisation that provides a product that so many people around the world want to come and enjoy.” The long-term was on the minds of many in Miami. The Board meeting was about enhancing accessibility at the FIFA World Cup 2026, but also about FIFA’s commitment to an elevated benchmark of inclusion and belonging moving forward. It was about embracing every fan and about ensuring that football truly unites the world. “It can’t be overstated how important and monumental just having this Committee even is,” said Board member Carla Qualtrough, an attorney and Paralympic swimmer who won multiple medals for Canada before becoming a Member of Parliament. “Just shifting the conversation around [not only] the economic side of hosting a mega sport event, but also the social side… The opportunity to advance broader social policy objectives by just having us at the table and visible [to] people.”