Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A- Kelly Walker: Welcome back to Hustle and Pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. So hopefully you saw part one of our FIFA World Cup 26 conversation. If you haven't, maybe go back and check out that episode because it really gives you the first part of our frequently asked questions chat. And this is part two.
What is one of the most asked questions or in your mind about, about this World cup being here and us getting to like be a part of it?
[00:00:31] Speaker B-Fred Hammond: Well, I mean, because it's here in Dallas and I've never been. How do I get to go? How do I buy a ticket? Yeah, that's my number one question.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Tickets, tickets, tickets.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: And everybody's asking us that, right?
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Everybody ask.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: I'm asking like friends from all over the nation are saying, can I come visit you? Can you get me a ticket? I'm like, well, I don't know how to get a ticket for myself, let alone you. So that's fork of me. And then we'll talk about you now.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Yeah, so the how do I get tickets is a doozy.
And a lot of people can you get me tickets?
[00:00:58] Speaker B: That's the second part.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: I'm like, I can't get me tickets. So no, I doubt I can get you tickets. But here's what we know, here's what we know right now. We've talked about this already. Right now, hospitality is what's on sale. And that means the premium stuff. So that means premium seating with upscale food and beverage. And those are suites and lounges and like specialty seating areas. That's not your regular, you know, bench or seat somewhere in the stadium. Those are the upgrades. So those went on sponsors, corporate sponsors, so people can actively buy those already.
But it's not like everything's available. You can't just go buy a single match right now for that necessarily. Especially if you're trying to buy like a match for us in the U.S. there's, there's all these guardrails set up, but you can buy like follow, it's called follow your team or follow a venue series.
So there are ways to buy in suites for that upgraded hospitality. So we looked at this via text when it all came out and it is pricey, pricier than you'd think for these upgrades. And so the Dallas, you can, you can go on and look and there's a drop down menu of which stadium you're talking about and all that. And so Dallas pricing for these suites and hospitality starts at per person like $2300.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Okay, how many matches do I get for that? Is that I Think that's per. Is it like they're two a day or just. No, it's one match.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I know.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Okay, so when's the next round of tickets coming?
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. It's corporate and it's not every, not your everyday soccer buying that. Yeah. So okay, so then we move on to general tickets.
So that is actually coming soon, sooner than, than later. So general tickets are all going to open and be sold in phases. They're not just gonna open it all up. And it's crazy free for all because I think it would be wild.
Phase one actually starts September 10th.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: So for 10 whole days, like you can't sleep on this for 10 days. There is a Visa card member ticket window open like a draw, like a lottery which is common now.
So where I think it helps combat some of the not genuine buyers price gouges. And so for 10 days, if you're a Visa ticket holder, you need your FIFA id, which we've gone on and gotten. Um, it's just a registration process. Right. Um, so when you go to FIFA.com tickets, Visa cardholders will get in there with their FIFA ID and basically you're applying to get into it like a lotto. And that's a 10 day window. And then by the end of September I think it is, they're gonna tell you if you got, if you're in that group of people available to buy.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: So you have 10 days to apply. 10 days to apply and then they.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Announce they'll close that and then they'll tell you if you got in or not by the end of the.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: And then the next month you can start buying. It'll. They'll open up to your group. To the group who got in.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: Like for single games are open.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Which sounds crazy, right?
[00:04:15] Speaker B: So that'll all be through like FIFA.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Oh yeah. Again, I would, I would not go elsewhere.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Right. I mean no ticket master.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: No just really worry. I mean that's where you're going to get the higher prices and the scams and stuff. So yeah, we're trying to do it right where we, we go through FIFA and get it, get lucky and get them on the first round. But that is the first phase. The last thing I want to mention is the other way to be involved. If you don't end up buying a suite, don't end up buying a general ticket because you can't.
Then there's a volunteer aspect. They are going to tournament wide need 65,000 volunteers.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: I don't know how that breaks out. To Dallas, but 65, 000 across all these.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: A lot.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: And so you have to be 18 years old. You and you have to be willing to. And commit to eight shifts during this six week time frame.
I think they just want people that are like, really, really interested and not just like, I just want.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: They got to train again somehow.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah. So they want it to like, like commit, you know, we don't want just one volunteer for this one day kind of thing.
So you have to really like, okay, can I do that? Am I willing to do that? That kind of thing. That's, that's probably a hurdle for a lot of people. You don't get paid. Right. It's a volunteer.
And so August 11, those applications opened and then in October they'll, they'll start tryouts. So like it's.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: You and I are trying out.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: I would. If I make it that far, I would.
So October through January, they interview you.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Oh, sorry.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: And talk to you. What? What?
[00:05:57] Speaker B: No, I just saying, like, what's a tryout?
[00:05:58] Speaker A: I think it's an interview we're going.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: To try to see.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: I don't think it's like physically anything. I think they just are using the soccer term. I hope.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: I hope.
And then starting in December, they'll make offers to volunteers and start filling up that 65,000 spots. So what I think like a lot of people, like, I don't know. Okay. When you look into the volunteer details, there's so many different lanes you can volunteer in. So there's 23 different roles.
And like, think, like kind of think bigger than just at a game or something.
In fact, your volunteer shift doesn't necessarily. It's not a ticket to the game. Like you're standing at a different post. It's not a way to go in and watch the game.
But airports, hotels, a volunteer center and a stadium. Like, these are examples of four different places volunteers will be.
And it's everything from an anti doping committee where they need help with how they're going to do whatever they do for anti doping.
Yeah. And go look at those 23 volunteer roles and see like which one matches with your skill set or personality and use that and try to get involved, you know.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah. You're around the ball quite literally. And when you're around that something, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
[00:07:18] Speaker A: Greeters and hospitality. I mean, arriving. I mean I would go stand at the airport and tell a team right this way, like, whatever. If I get to see these players come off of a plane or something.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Like that, yeah, that would be kind of cool.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Like, so cool. Or.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: But you're representing the United States too. You're like, hi, I'm an American, welcome to our country.
And this is. My name's Fred, this is Kelly. And we're so glad you're here.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: I know.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: How cool is that? Now that they leave going, what a sweet.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: I would do it.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Sweet city that was.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Yes. If I'm allowed to do it, I'll do it.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: You're gonna get a good job, but we'll see. I'll probably be selling popcorn.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: It's a big commitment, but I also feel like when, when else do you get the chance to be around this tournament and, you know, just the excitement of it?
[00:08:01] Speaker B: So, like I said, it's a once in a lifetime.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Like, I'll do whatever.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: We'll never have another opportunity like this. So, like, people there's been griping about, oh, why does FIFA need to have free volunteers? Listen, I think it's opposite. This is a gift to us all, I think, to enjoy one global event.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: And then maybe because we all know, like, in the sports world, volunteers run this stuff. Like, or this stuff doesn't run without volunteers. We have since your kids kicking a soccer ball at age three. Like, parents volunteer. Everybody's volunteering to make all this stuff work. It just the staff of these, even a giant, you know, like FIFA, there's not enough staff to make 104 games work on their own.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: You know, so I get it. They need the help. So what teams are going to be here? So we get that question a lot. Who's going to be around here? The bottom line is, who knows yet who's going to be in Frisco? That's to be determined. But I want to kind of like explain how it's determined and how teams even make it into this tournament. Countries, teams, delegation. So we mentioned the 48 teams.
So do you understand? I know you understand, but I have to write it all out. The confederations under FIFA get seats, get tickets or spots in this tournament. And there's six of them now.
So I want to kind of talk through what those are. So the first one is afc, that's the Asian confederation. So they get eight seats and they're the. They're kind of the first round of a confederation to start qualifying their teams in general.
This is crazy. Qualifications started September of 2023.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Whoa.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Like so long ago, they start eliminating and qualifying and advancing. So right as of Today, there's only 13 teams qualified for the. Of the 48 field. So there's a lot of movement that's going to happen between right now, as we're at the end of August and the end of March, when this, like all the rest of this field is about to get laid out. So there's a lot in the soccer world. People are watching all these qualifiers. Okay. But in the Asian confederation, so eight. So the ones that are already in, Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, the Republic of Korea. Korea. Republic. Did I say that backwards?
[00:10:20] Speaker B: I think so.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: And Uzbekistan.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Uzbekistan.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: That's a hard one for me.
So those are already in.
And I think they've already eliminated like 30 something from their confederacy, so, yeah, that's a big one. And then next up is the cif, which is the African confederation, so they get nine spots.
And then I don't think those are determined yet, any of those teams. And then concacaf. So that's our most.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Us. Yep.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: You know, we're. We're most used to that.
That's North America, Central America and the Caribbean. That's what concacat stands for.
And that gets the three host countries are automatically in.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Plus three more.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: So it's a really good year for anybody in concacaf because you could be the fourth, fifth and sixth and still be in.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Yep, exactly. Okay, so six from concacaf and we know three of them because it's us, Canada, Mexico, and then.
So I don't know how to say con Mobile or con Mabel. I don't know. I say mobile because I say it like. Yeah, let's stick with American accent.
But that is South America and they have six and some pretty good ones down there. Okay. Yeah. So like some of the big, big boys. So Argentina, defending world champs Brazil and Ecuador are already taking three of those.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: Who's. Who. Soccer.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. And so. Yeah, so that's.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Watch Ecuador too. I think they're going to be different.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: Okay, I'll do it. Okay. There's a new confederation, Oceana, so they get a spot. And that's New Zealand.
Oh, yeah. And then the. Also the. The big one, UEFA. So the European, they have 16 spots.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: I feel like just in the soccer world that's like. While there's power players like Argentina and Brazil, like, UEFA's like the most. You know, it's just like the most common soccer.
Condensed density of soccer, I guess.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Is that where all the new teams were added to and the.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: I don't know all the old numbers.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: I would imagine it would probably be in UFO because there's so many teams over there. That's would beat any of these teams.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: That didn't make it, maybe they expanded. Maybe they expanded a little everywhere. I don't know. That's a good question.
So though, UEFA, they get 16 and their qualifiers are not going to end until March 2020.
So that is like that competitive from here on out is like everybody's watching to see who's going to qualify and win. And there's 54 hopefuls that are going to get those 16.
Wow. And then all that to say there are still some, like, I don't know, wild card, kind of like up in the air spots available. Some of these confederations can qualify for, like another spot if they make it into a playoff. So there's a FIFA playoff tournament. Six teams.
So after this is all settled, four teams. Yeah.
Teams will play for two final spots. And that happens also in March.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: So by the end of March, we'll get. We'll have it all.
We gotta wait. That, to me is like really last minute.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: For planning and everything. That means all these base camps might not be assigned and tidied up until all these teams are decided.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah. But the interest level, FIFA's keeping you going, Right. You're just building off each game and you're like, this is the World Cup's kind of playing right now, just in all these little things. It's not just three weeks you're going to dial into. It's going to be all of this.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: It's always something. There's always something.
That's another good segue into, like, what's the timeline like? We just talked about when these teams are getting determined.
So timing wise. So the term the World cup starts June 11 and ends July 19, 2026.
So we celebrated, obviously, on June 11. We celebrated the One year to Go campaign kickoffs all around the three host countries. All the host cities did big kickoffs. There's. There's countdown clocks at airports now. There's countdown clocks in Frisco in front of the hall of Fame. So it's on. Like, it's. Yeah, we're. We're within that year time frame.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: We've been waiting.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So June 11th through July 19th, the first game. Do you know where it is?
[00:14:22] Speaker B: I'm gonna say it's Mexico City.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Yep. It's Azteca.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Right. Interesting. At 9,000ft in the air, it's gonna.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: Be like a whole vibe, a whole scene.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: I'm excited for them because that's just like a historic soccer mecca.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: It's Mecca in North America.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: So they get game one and then Guadalajara gets game two and then the US Opener is in la.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Okay, so at Los Angeles Stadium.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Or LA Soccer stadium. Not so far.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Right? Yeah, I say that because I don't want people to get confused going, oh, the World Cup's starting.
Oh, but it's not a Dallas today. Nope. Oh, wait, now they're saying another opening. Well, that's la. So there's, there's the opening tournament match, there's the opening US Match in la, and then there's our Dallas opening match. So there's a lot of those first. That first week there's going to be a lot of like firsts and oh, kickoffs. But that's why there's the tournament kickoff in Mexico City on June 11th. Then the next day LA opens the US portion of the tournament and then Dallas, two days later, Dallas opens our portion of it. The Dallas host committee or host cities portion of it. It on the 14th.
Yeah. So I talked about that as match number 11. Then Dallas Stadium in Arlington has matches on after that. June 14th, they have a match on June 17th, 22nd, 25th, 27th, 30th, and then they have a July 3rd, July 6th, and then that 14th semi.
So it's a lot. It's a lot. But it's also like spread out. It's. It's interesting.
And so we will. They will start to populate some of the group draws and things start happening as early as like the first week of December when they start to know the majority. I think that's what I hear. I don't know how it all works, but I've seen those draws on tv. If you ever watch that.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: Is that where they pick the ping pong ball and it's Argentina is coming to Dallas or. Yeah, yeah, I think that's how it was done last time.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's their tradition.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: And everybody's nervous that they get Argentina. We'd be excited to have it, but if the US Was in that bracket, we'd be.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, because that's like your.
Yeah, it's like we're not gonna. The group they call.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it's like the death group or there's a word that's something that's.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Like, oh, you got the hardest.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Yeah, right.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Toughest group.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Well, that would be like Argentina or Brazil. We wouldn't want that. We always like it when we get some sort of fringe nation that.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially if you get two power players and then you're like, oh, great, I gotta play two of the best teams to get out of this. I think. I think they. I think it's group of death, the.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Bracket of death or.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, like that. So that'll all start shaping up in just a few months. December. So that's another milestone. So, like, team wise or player wise in this era of soccer, who would you be like, all right, I want to see that guy or team?
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Well, I mean, the obvious one is Messi. Everybody wants to see Messi and Argentina, they're the world champs and Messi's getting older and he won it, though. But they were saying, yeah, it's emotional. This will probably be his last one. But I never bet against that guy.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: But for real.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, that's my.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: That's your.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: I pray Argentina gets in Dallas. But I'm sure everybody's saying that same prayer, so.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Right.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: What about you?
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I love anything messy. I love. I got the chance to see him play here and I've seen him play twice now, and so I'm just soaking it all in. Anything messy. I got really into Mbappe a couple World Cups ago and love, you know, love anything that he's doing. So, I mean, there's. There's a lot. But.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Well, I think. What about the US too? I mean, I'd love to see some of the US guys step.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Step up of like, our connected guys that we know as FC Dallas fans and US Soccer and MLS fans. Yeah. Pulisic Love. Can't wait to see what he's done. It's. He hasn't really been in the qualifying rounds and playing with us a lot lately. They're kind of saving him, but I can't wait to see him. I love watching him play. And then anybody that's come through Frisco, I'm rooting for, obviously, like Weston McKinney. I love watching him play on the US Men's National Team. And we have Shaq Moore on our roster right now and he's national team player. And Paxton Palm calls. And FC Dallas homegrown. Who's kind of a. He was there on February 4th when we learned about the matches. It was Paxton. It was.
It was Dirk.
It was Emmett and Marty Turco.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: I think. I feel like that's who all it was. But it's cool to see all these Dallas area sports superstars get really excited too, because a lot of these international guys, like Dirk German, their soccer is their original love. Right. You hear that all the time from international players, so there's just a cool excitement. So any. Any FC Dallas or Frisco guys that have a chance to be on that roster.
I would love to see them out there for sure. And non American FC Dallas guys, our goalie right now, Paz, he's been called up for international team, so we have a lot. I feel like half of our FC Dallas roster is on other national teams.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: So while they're not playing for Team usa, like, I'm rooting for them as well, for sure. Because we know those guys and we want them to do well. So, I mean, they're playing on national teams all over the world too. So it's just this web of, like, random players and backgrounds and people we follow through our teams that I can't wait to see.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, our coach, he's looking really long and hard at the MLS players and more than ever before, he's kind of got a new approach towards things. And if these guys do well in the World cup as MLS players now start getting offers from overseas. And that happened a lot in the last World cup, more and more. And so this is a showcase for our homegrown talent or MLS players to shine and really get real worldwide exposure.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: For sure.
It's a turning point. Like that 94 you talked about. This is it again. This is that next step of it. This is the next chance for us soccer players, us fans, us. Just the place in the map of soccer in general to take the next step. For sure.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: Me too.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: So that is a lot.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: That's a lot of information. That's good information.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: That's like the first round of, like, dumping all this information out there. I feel like later on there'll be another round of like, oh, okay, now here's what we're talking about. And more details that will come out, like maybe where you can watch and how. I don't know. Other information. So we'll see. We'll see as we keep learning.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: But 99 of the people don't know anything you just described right now because that information. No, I'm sure of it because I'm a soccer enthusiast and I learned more in this podcast than I've known.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: Really?
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So great job. Good research.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: I had to write it all down.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Really good research.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Flying around for weeks in my emails, texting, all that. I'm like, okay, I'm going to write it all down so I can try to put it out there.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Oh, well, thank you for doing that.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Awesome. Thank you for your time.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: All right, thank you.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: And thank you guys for tuning in and listening to this long episode of Hustle and Pro hope you learned something and hope that you're if you weren't interested in the World cup before now, maybe it's a little more interesting to you. And so keep your, if you're local, definitely keep keep your eyes open for anything. FIFA World Cup 26, Dallas 26. All that means now you know what it means. And now you can get more involved and try to get some tickets or volunteer like we're going to try to do. All right. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Hustle and Pro. Subscribe on YouTube and check us out on Instagram and we'll see you next episode.
