Sports

Vicious Kansas City Storm Sends World Cup Soccer Teams Running For Shelter As Tornado Sirens Blare

by Last Updated
Kansas City Weather storm tornado world cup soccer england algeria argentina siren shelter
iStockphoto / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Denny Medley TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY, IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Jay Biggerstaff, Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

England, Algeria and Argentina got their first taste of midwest weather on Saturday night as a massive storm brought destructive wind and rain through Kansas City during the World Cup. It triggered tornado sirens all across the city and forced the international soccer teams to shelter in place.

None of these three countries have ever experienced a similar phenomenon.

There have already been a lot of cool “American crossover stories” at the World Cup this summer, for lack of better phrasing. This specific meteorological phenomenon might be the most unique.

A massive storm brought damaging winds and heavy rain to Kansas City during the World Cup.

The 2026 World Cup will take place at 16 host venues across the United States, Mexico and Canada. Arrowhead Stadium, home to the Kansas City Chiefs, is one of them. Argentina will play Algeria on June 16, Ecuador will play Curacao on June 20 and Tunisia will play the Netherlands on June 25. A massive storm rolled through the area with just two days until the first match.

It rolled in fast with thunder, lightning, wind and rain.

Gusts were tracked at up to 80 miles per hour on Saturday night. Here is a timelapse from what I think is Legends Field:

The weather was nasty.

Many local suburbs lost power during the storm.

There was a good bit of damage throughout the area.

Greater Kansas City got a good thumping.

England, Argentina and Algeria had to run from the tornado sirens.

In addition to the three Group Stage matches at Arrowhead Stadium, Argentina, Algeria and England established their respective base camps in the greater Kansas City area. Argentina is staying at the Origin Hotel at the Berkley Riverfront on the Missouri side and is using the Sporting KC Training Centre in Kansas City, Kansas, as their primary training facility. England is staying at the Inn at Meadowbrook and training roughly 20 minutes away at Swope Soccer Village, the training facility for Sporting Kansas City. Algeria is staying at a DoubleTree Hotel in Lawrence and training at the University of Kansas.

All three organizations and their supporters were forced to shelter in place because of the storm on Saturday night. International visitors had their World Cup viewing disrupted by the storm.

Chefs for the Argentina national team were in the middle of a barbecue at the team hotel when tornado sirens began to sound.

Sirens were blaring all across the city for more than an hour.

Argentina, England and their supporters were told to seek shelter in the lowest room of the hotel.

According to Jack Pitt-Brook, “the whole England delegation received automated warning messages on their phones just after 8pm local time on Saturday from the U.S. National Weather Service, telling them that there was a ‘Severe Thunderstorm Warning’ and that they should ‘take shelter in a sturdy building, away from windows’, with fears of winds of up to 80mph.” The ‘Severe Thunderstorm Warning’ was upgraded to a ‘Tornado Watch’ about 30 minutes later.

Fortunately, all of the athletes and staffers for all three teams were not impacted by the storm. England’s hotel and training ground were largely unaffected by the storm. Fox’s coverage of Scotland vs. Haiti was taken over by live weather coverage but that’s okay. I would imagine that was the first such experience for a large number of players on the team. They are still planning to train as normal on Sunday before their World Cup opener in Dallas on Tuesday.