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You can’t always hit the ground running. Sometimes it takes a little bit of start-and-stop before you hit your stride. Take Kansas City’s pro soccer teams, for example.
It’s been a rough start of the 2026 season for local fans. Sporting KC, our men’s team, is ranked dead last in the MLS Western Conference, with a 1-3-1 record.
The Kansas City Current, our women’s team, is only a few spots from the bottom of the NWSL standing, at 1-3-0. And that’s after both teams brought on brand new head coaches at the beginning of the season.
But there’s plenty of time to turn that around. In fact, it might be comforting to know that the entire history of professional soccer in the U.S. is one of underdogs, false starts and relentless optimism.
This is a topic we’ve been exploring in KCUR’s podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, as part of our miniseries about how Kansas City became a soccer city. The sport first took off here among immigrant groups, at churches, and workplaces — but it was years before players secured dedicated soccer fields, let alone money or mainstream interest.
Our podcast tells the story of how Lamar Hunt, the original owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, helped form one of the first professional men’s soccer leagues in the country. Fans didn’t show up the way they do now, and our city’s first team, the Spurs, folded after just three years because of money issues. Then the entire league collapsed.
Only after the U.S. hosted the World Cup the last time, in 1994, did fans finally achieve their dream of building Major League Soccer.
In our most recent episode, we explore the longer struggle for women to claim their place on the soccer pitch, covering secretly-organized rogue World Cups in defiance of FIFA and the revolution of Title IX.
In many ways, it’s thanks to women that America is taken seriously in soccer on the international stage at all. (We’re still waiting on the U.S. men to win a single World Cup — maybe this is the year, but more likely not.)
What I love about editing this soccer miniseries, and A People’s History of Kansas City as a whole, is seeing all the threads that connect our city to the rest of the world. Turns out you can’t escape the influence of Kansas City, even where you least expect it.
Between this summer’s international matches and Kansas City possibly hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2031 (!!!), hopefully everyone else catches up to that fact too.
(And make sure you subscribe to A People’s History of Kansas City wherever you get podcasts. The fourth and final part of our Soccer City miniseries is coming in May.)
Your last chance to get World Cup tickets... is now
Didn’t get a seat during one of FIFA’s previous, way-too-confusing-and-expensive ticket buying windows?
FIFA’s “last-minute” sales phase began yesterday morning, and will remain open through the tournament. You can also find resale tickets available but prices may be even higher.
Kansas City’s big-name games, such as the matches featuring Argentina and the Netherlands, are likely to be the most expensive and sell out the quickest.
KCUR’s Celisa Calacal walks you through the process, and NPR has five key things to know about tickets. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
A World Cup visitor’s first impression of Kansas City? The airport
For the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected in Kansas City this summer, their first steps in the city — and possibly the United States — will be at the Kansas City International Airport. Airport staff expect June and July will be their busiest on record, and see this as a “once-in-a-generation chance” to make a good impression.
One big task is translating airport signs into the languages commonly spoken by the seven teams playing in Kansas City, including German, Dutch, Arabic and Spanish. But those signs have yet to go up and it’s not clear when they will.
That’s not to mention the need for airport shuttle routes into the city (because public transit options to KCI, much like its stadium, are almost nonexistent) and managing the increased crowd and baggage needs.
KCUR’s Kowthar Shire looks into how preparations are going for Kansas City’s front door.
Boozy border war
Say you’re up late watching the World Cup games, and maybe hoping to drink a few beers. If you live in Kansas, where the bars close at 2 a.m., you’d have to drive a few minutes across state lines, and post up at a bar on the Missouri side.
But Kansas lawmakers don’t want that to happen. So they recently passed a bill that would allow liquor sales and bar operations 23 hours a day during the World Cup this summer, mimicking a law that Missouri already implemented. It’s now headed to Gov. Laura Kelly for her signature.
“If Kansas doesn’t move forward with that, we’ll lose a lot of business to Missouri,” said Taylor Spaniol at Dempsey’s Burger Pub in Lawrence.
Kansas Public Radio’s Zach Boblitt reports this story.
Kickin’ the ball around
- Fan fest tickets: Passes open soon for Kansas City’s FIFA Fan Festival at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The festivities are free but you’ll need to grab a spot in advance. Sign up here to get notified. (KC2026)
- Stadium guide: Capacity at Arrowhead Stadium — sorry, “Kansas City Stadium” — for World Cup matches this summer will be just 67,513, down several thousand from your average Chiefs game. That’s because the stadium went through significant construction to accommodate the wider soccer pitch. (The Athletic)
- Speaking of rough starts: The U.S. men’s national team lost both of their World Cup warm-up matches, to Belgium and Portugal. Here are four takeaways. (NPR)
- Finalizing the roster: Sweden and Turkey are in, Poland and Kosovo are out after the final play-offs for this summer’s tournament. Find the full results here. (The Athletic)
- Give him a hand: Philadelphia artist and mental health advocate Clancy Philbrick wants to make a replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy using fingernails and toenails. And he wants you to send him yours. Haha! Gross. (WHYY)
- Football, innit: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is making the international media rounds, telling English soccer fans what they can expect when they come to town. (Sky Sports)
- Train dreams: Kansas City’s stadium isn’t connected to a train or streetcar route, unlike other cities with more robust public transit systems. But in Boston, train tickets to Gillette Stadium will cost a whole lot more than usual for the World Cup. (WBUR)
- Welcome to OP: Overland Park, Kansas, is organizing two World Cup hub spaces at the convention center and Oak Park Mall, complete with relaxation spaces, electronic device chargers, info stations and transportation access. (Johnson County Post)
- Eyes on 2031: FIFA hasn’t confirmed the United States-led bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup in part because the White House hasn’t delivered guarantees on things like safety and visas. Meanwhile, host cities want a better deal than they got this year. (The Athletic)
Temperature check
Many Kansas City residents don’t appear confident in the city’s World Cup planning so far — at least, according to my inbox. Transportation and security seem to be the two biggest issues lacking in detail and assurance.
“We are so unprepared for this onslaught of Soccer Heads from around the world,” Douglas T. wrote in. “Staying in Lawrence for the matches?? ‘Oh let’s go to Kansas City to the Jazz District, listen to American Jazz and maybe get some BBQ.’ Well how is that going to happen?”
“It doesn't seem like there is much of an actual plan A, let alone a plan B,” wrote Jo B. “It's just disappointing that we have this amazing opportunity to impress the world and we're just meh about it.”
Got thoughts or questions about World Cup prep? Shoot me an email.
