The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, plans to spend $625 million to help local and state governments boost cybersecurity, infrastructure protection, training, background checks and other public safety tasks for the 2026 international soccer tournament.
The World Cup is scheduled to take place in 11 U.S. host cities over 38 days, attract 5 million visitors from across the world while generating “tens of billions of dollars in economy activity,” according to FEMA.
Competition will also take place in Mexico and Canada, but the focus of FEMA’s FIFA World Cup Grant Program is squarely on domestic security and public safety.
Given the high-profile nature of the event, and the money involved, it’s a sure bet that funding will benefit suppliers of government technology — an industry being fueled by investment and growth in public safety hardware and software, including drones and artificial intelligence.
Already, in fact, cities are using the upcoming World Cup as a reason to pump up their public safety and other technologies, including for transit and 911 call centers.
FEMA will accept applications until Dec. 5.
Only “state administrative agencies” can apply for those grants, according to FEMA.
It said it wants the money to go to carrying out “the extensive security activities required to protect players, staff, attendees, venues and critical infrastructure across the host cities’ events, strengthening them against potential terrorist attacks leading up to and during the World Cup.”
Funding comes via the major tax and spending law — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — that was passed earlier this year.
“The 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to be the largest sporting event in history, so it must also be the safest,” a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement. “By providing federal funding to state and local communities through carefully crafted grant programs, we are ensuring that taxpayer money is spent responsibly on projects that deliver real safety and security for all Americans.”
FEMA also said it would award $500 million in community grants in the next two fiscal years to help governments through “this funding to aggressively combat the unlawful use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) that endanger the safety, security and lives of the American people.”
