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It’s safe to say that the buildup to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America has been anything but a smooth process, particularly for the United States.
The country is facing backlash from across the globe for issues such as obscene transit pricing, potentially troublesome field surfaces, visa issues for teams and coaches, and everything in between.
However, a certain sect of soccer fans, particularly of the European variety, has used the very real issues that the U.S. is having with the World Cup and extrapolated them to voice complaints about anything and everything.
The latest example of this is fans, many of whom are from England, complaining that the stadiums in the United States just don’t have that “it” factor that those across the rest of the world apparently have.
And American college football fans were not having that argument.
Europeans And Americans Fight Over FIFA World Cup Stadiums
While they’re not the first person to raise the issue, the online war seemed to kick off with a post on X from user @imzftbi, who claimed that, “These US stadiums have a horrible aesthetic.”
While that may be true of some NFL stadiums, which certainly lack soul, it’s definitely not true of all. And, more to the point, the stadiums that have been used for pre-World Cup friendly matches are not the ones that will be used for the World Cup itself.
Safe to say, American fans were extremely protective of their favorite stadiums.
Nothing in Europe comes close to any of this https://t.co/9TZDQdSgPj pic.twitter.com/5p4RLxGsIZ
— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) June 7, 2026
Manchester United’s highest-ever attendance in history was 109,318 for a pre-season friendly against Real Madrid at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on August 2, 2014. A college stadium in the US https://t.co/6ktF1yJ5P5 pic.twitter.com/zCqtfjm91A
— WorldCup2026 Central (@soccerpaedia) June 7, 2026
there are literal high school stadiums with higher capacity than some premier league stadiums
there are also 21 college football stadiums with a higher capacity than old trafford lmao who do you think you are saying this https://t.co/e6pItIOLjK pic.twitter.com/DETPm9DfsR
— Ja🔴 (@ProjectStrider) June 7, 2026
Perhaps the biggest contention from American fans is that European soccer stadiums, particularly those in England, are simply too small!
The Emirates Stadium, home to Premier League champion Arsenal, has a capacity of 60,704. For comparison sake, the smallest of the 11 host sites in the United States, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, will seat 67,518 for the World Cup.
Beyond that, the idea that U.S. stadiums don’t have the history of English stadiums is absurd. Places like Kyle Field (Texas A&M), where Argentina has set up its home base for the tournament, and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (Ole Miss) have been in use for over a century. And there are plenty of others that can make that claim!
There are plenty of valid criticisms of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The idea that the U.S. doesn’t have stadiums with soul is not one of them.