Nothing to see here.
That’s the goal of the medical team at the 2026 World Cup. No single emergency is too big to handle. Seamless teamwork. Prepared for anything and everything. That’s the plan.
Anytime thousands of fans pack into a stadium the size of Arrowhead for what promises to be a hot and rainy summer sporting event like a soccer match, it presents a triple whammy of exhausted, uncomfortable and emotionally charged fans crammed together.
In other words, it’s a powder keg of potential health and wellness problems. Serious fan injuries at soccer matches are rare. According to a recent report by the U.K.’s Sports Grounds Safety Authority, most fan accidents are from slips, trips and falls, with cuts, lacerations, bruising and sprains the most common types of injury. Most fan injuries take place during the match, with alcohol as a major contributing factor.
Among the chief concerns for the KC World Cup is the weather. The Farmer’s Almanac predicts June and July this year will be significantly hotter—and wetter—than last summer. The University of Kansas Health System has been the on-site medical team for the Chiefs for the past 15 years and will be in charge of the 2026 World Cup medical needs as well. Dr. Bryan Beaver, who is part of that on-site team and specializes in emergency medicine and disaster medicine, says heat mitigation has been a big part of their strategy, “in particular for some of those coming from countries that aren’t used to experiencing the heat that we have,” he says. “If they do overheat, we have actually been pioneers in some of our strategies for treating heat stroke and heat illness in and out of hospital settings.”
For the World Cup tournament, there will be first aid stations outside of the stadium, roving paramedics and nurses inside at every level, and ambulances on site. Additional details of the KU medical plan were not made public because of security concerns.
Beaver and his team have been working on the tournament plan for more than a year and a half, he says, and are expecting a 6% to 8% increase in healthcare utilization for this large multi-day event. “We’ve made some adaptations to meet the needs of FIFA and the tournament, but otherwise it will be business as usual for us taking care of anybody that needs it,” Beaver says.“When we are facing events like these, we see what Kansas City is really good at, and its strengths really shine—the biggest of those being the collaboration that we have with all of the health-care entities, from the hospitals and health systems to the public health agencies, the EMS agencies and fire departments.”
Readiness can be put into two categories, Beaver says. First, “we have to be prepared to take care of all of our visitors that we’re expecting to come to Kansas City during this time period,” he says. “The second category is we also need to make sure that we continue to provide the excellent care that we do for all of our residents who live here every day, whether they’re partaking in World Cup festivities or not. So we have a strong focus to make sure that we can meet both of those needs.”
During a match day at the tournament, Beaver expects an “ebb and flow” of ER activities. “Oftentimes, there’s a little bit of a slowdown during the match, and then things may ramp up again after the match,” Beaver says. “In the two days before a match, the match day and the day after that, our health-care systems will be a little bit busier than what they are on a normal day. While we’re planning to take care of all the routine things, we always have to keep in the back of our mind a major incident. There’s always the risk we could have an unexpected event, whether it’s from the weather or man-made. So we have to be prepared as well for all of the unexpected scenarios.”
Beaver’s advice: Stay hydrated, dress appropriately, and be sure to wash your hands to prevent infection that could become a problem with so many international travelers coming to town.
