sports

To welcome Algerian visitors and make them feel at home in the charming college town, Lawrence restaurant owners offered more halal options, with some pulling pork from their menu. The Algerian team’s presence also gave an opportunity to spotlight Lawrence’s Middle Eastern restaurants.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has long coached his daughters' and other girls' basketball teams at school, wrote the court's majority opinion. Missouri and Kansas both have laws restricting transgender students from playing on girls' and women's sports teams.

John Dale, the longtime public address announcer for Sporting Kansas City, the Kansas City Mavericks and countless local sporting events, is now bringing his voice to World Cup matches at the stadium in Monterrey, Mexico.

Ecuador faces off against Curaçao Saturday evening, June 20, 2026, at Arrowhead Stadium. But fans from states around the country — and Ecuador itself — have been celebrating their team, blanketing Kansas City in yellow, blue and red.

Curacao, an island nation with a population just over 150,000, is the smallest nation to ever qualify for the men’s World Cup. This is the team’s first World Cup appearance, and they’re uniformly considered an underdog. Even so, fans are thrilled to see their team compete against Ecuador on Saturday.

Airbnb partnered with Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, Kansas City Public Schools and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City to give 75 tickets for students and their coaches to attend World Cup matches.

Youth soccer programs seem almost ubiquitous in modern America. But not that long ago, there weren’t many options for young athletes who wanted to play the sport. Bill Finn, who co-founded Brookside Soccer Club with two other local dads in 1977, joined KCUR’s Up To Date on Tuesday to talk about how it all got started.

For World Cup fans across the Midwest, seeing some of the top athletes in the world is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Nebraskan Vanessa Emlich wasn't going to miss her chance.

Storms already delayed the opening of Kansas City's FIFA Fan Festival. With more thunderstorms and tornadoes possible this weekend, organizers say they have an evacuation plan and shelters, but those details have not been made widely available.

Going to a World Cup game, for many, requires hours of sitting in online queues, months of planning and thousands of dollars. Still, for KCUR health reporter Noah Taborda, the opportunity is too important to pass up. Plus: Amateur soccer players in Kansas City are hoping to host their own local pickup games with players from other countries.

As Kansas City builds a reputation as a haven for women's sports, players for the new KC Diamonds softball team are excited to call it home.

Collecting Panini stickers is a World Cup tradition beloved in Europe and Latin America. In the U.S., interest has been building steadily, and this summer, the buzz is bigger than ever.