On June 11, Mark Carney opened the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup with a message of pride and ambition. Two weeks later, that ambition became history: a 92nd-minute goal from Eustáquio sent Canada’s men’s team into the Round of 16 for the first time.
For host cities, the question is not only how far their team goes. It is what remains after.
Major events can bring tourists that fill hotels and restaurants and raise a city’s profile. Yet without deliberate action, these benefits can be short-lived.
The World Cup is a chance to turn global attention into lasting local benefits: better access to sport, stronger local businesses, inclusive public spaces, increased tourism, new skills and a wider sense of belonging.
Canada is co-hosting the men’s World Cup for the first time with Mexico and the United States, in the largest edition yet: 48 countries, 104 matches and 16 host cities. It has framed the tournament in legacy terms, with investment to expand participation and build community sport infrastructure. The World Cup is projected to create or support nearly 25 000 jobs and add CAD 2 billion to the economy.
But for cities, the test is whether this legacy is visible in daily life after the crowds have gone home.
My family moved to Montreal when I was ten, and the city shaped my identity and sense of belonging. Through it, I came to know Canada as diverse, multicultural and open: a place where newcomers find their footing, children grow up between languages, and people gather around community centres, music, sport, food and parks. That is why legacy should not be measured only in visitor numbers or GDP, but in whether residents experience stronger access, opportunity and belonging after the event.
Sports events and shared lessons between cities
Living in Paris for over seven years has since shown me how sport can bring people together across generations and backgrounds.
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games showed that major events can support local jobs, responsible procurement, accessibility and inclusion. More than 30 000 workers benefited from integration into Games construction projects, while 37% of the value of public procurement contracts was awarded to very small and small enterprises and social economy actors, exceeding the original 25% target.
Birmingham offers another example. The 2022 Commonwealth Games and Festival engaged 6.9 million people in Games-related activities, supported more than 20 000 people through skills, volunteering and training opportunities and helped 2 700 people gain new qualifications. One year later, 59% of residents surveyed said the event had a positive impact on community cohesion.
Host cities are learning from one another to boost impact. The Paris-Los Angeles Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2017 around Olympic cooperation and followed by cultural cooperation between Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, shows that legacy is strengthened when host cities exchange lessons before the event begins.
How some World Cup host cities are thinking about legacy
World Cup host cities are bringing similar ambitions to their own legacy plans:
Toronto’s World Cup legacy strategy focuses on community programmes, sport access in underserved communities, diverse businesses and inclusive workforce development.
Vancouver has placed human rights, accessibility and inclusion at the centre of its preparations through a Host City Human Rights Action Plan.
Mexico City is making the tournament accessible beyond ticket holders, with 18 free fan festivals across its boroughs: public screenings, cultural events, family activities, workshops, concerts and food from local and Indigenous communities.
Los Angeles is widening access by providing World Cup experiences to 600 people, mainly youth from underserved communities, through 26 Community Champion organisations.
How to turn global attention into lasting local benefit
Major events create short-term demand in areas like hospitality, transport, logistics and security. Cities can work with employers, workforce agencies and training providers to turn temporary roles into longer-term opportunities.
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics used social procurement to connect Games-related contracts with training and employment for marginalised women, at-risk youth and low-income residents.
Cities can also make volunteering count for young people.
Cities can work with schools, universities and youth organisations to make it meaningful and recognised. At the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, 50% of volunteers said they planned to do more formal volunteering in the future, while 37% planned to do more informal volunteering, with the strongest results among under-26s and first-time volunteers.
Cities can improve accessibility by removing barriers in transport, public space, information, ticketing and crowd management. Paris 2024 helped expand accessible transport with 240 adapted stations and 1 000 adapted taxis.
Cities can support community sport, active public spaces and healthier lifestyles. Canada’s investment in community football activities points in this direction. London 2012 also shows the potential health legacy: adult participation in weekly moderate-intensity sport increased by 3.5 percentage points in the short term, equivalent to 1.5 million more participants.
What matters for cities
The legacy of a major event is written in the opportunities it creates, the places it improves, and the people who feel its benefits. For me, this is where the story comes back to Montreal. The city where I grew up showed me that diversity is felt in everyday life: in public spaces, services, housing, transport, culture and opportunities for young people.
The World Cup offers a global stage, but its most important legacy may be local. Inclusive cities are built through major investments but also through shared moments that make people feel they belong.
This is where the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative and the OECD’s programme on Global Cultural, Sports and Business Events and Local Development come together. Both point to one policy message: major events matter most when they improve everyday life, widen opportunity and strengthen belonging.
To read more, see: The Legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Upping the game, The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Festival: co-creating a lasting legacy, How to measure the impact of culture, sports and business events: A Guide – Part I, Impact indicators for culture, sports and business events: A Guide – Part II, Implementing the OECD Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development: A Toolkit.
Zhi Hui Lin works in the Director’s Office of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), where she fosters collaboration across CFE and helps bring together expertise on cities, regional development, local employment, skills, SMEs and tourism to respond to cities’ needs. She coordinates the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative, supporting local policy research, strategic communications, network animation, outreach and engagement with mayors. Reflecting her multicultural background, Zhi speaks French, English, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.