St. Louis to host Olympic soccer throughout 2028 LA Games

The Olympics are coming again to St. Louis.

The LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games introduced Tuesday that six extra venues throughout the nation will host matches for the 2028 Olympic soccer event — together with St. Louis City SC’s Energizer Park.

“We are a soccer town to our core, but the Olympic Games transcend, uniting us as Americans, sport fans and citizens of the world,” mentioned Mayor Cara Spencer in a launch. “The LA28 Olympic Football (Soccer) Tournament will showcase the absolute best of St. Louis!”

Spencer and regional leaders mentioned at a press convention on the stadium Tuesday that the occasion will result in an inflow of tourists and drive financial advantages to downtown St. Louis.

Olympic officers are anticipated to announce which matches might be performed in St. Louis in April.

The course of to develop into an Olympic host took months of visits and conversations with LA28, Soccer United Marketing and FIFA, St. Louis City SC General Manager and President Diego Gigliani mentioned. Gigliani mentioned Olympic leaders had been in search of a central location.

“I think they were impressed by two things,” Gigliani mentioned. “One is the history that we’ve talked about, the history both with the Olympics, but also the history with soccer. And then secondly, the world-class facility and track record that we have had in hosting big international games here.”

In 1904, St. Louis was the primary American host of the Summer Olympic Games. Since then, the area has produced quite a few notable Olympians, together with basketball star Jayson Tatum, observe and area athletes Jackee Joyner-Kersee from East St. Louis, Brandon Miller from O’Fallon, Missouri, diver Tyler Downs from Ballwin and soccer star Becky Sauerbrunn from Ladue.

St. Louis, New York City, Columbus, Nashville, San Jose and San Diego would be the websites of group and knockout contests earlier than the ultimate stage matches are held on the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The males’s gold medal match might be on July 28, and the ladies’s gold medal match might be on July 29.

Energizer Park, which might be known as “St. Louis Stadium” for the Games, was chosen primarily based on its adherence to worldwide requirements. Major League Soccer advisable current stadiums able to internet hosting world-class competitions which have the potential to have interaction the local people, according to event organizers.

Brian Munoz

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St. Louis Public Radio

Brian Munoz

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St. Louis Public Radio

Regional officers are attempting to have St. Louis be a part of the Olympic torch relay. The metropolis can be a finalist for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials, St. Louis Sports Commission President Marc Schreiber mentioned.

“If all of this could come together, it would be a heck of a 2028 for our region,” he mentioned.

The stadium in Downtown West has hosted a number of worldwide matches since its opening in 2022, together with the CONCACAF Gold Cup match between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Guatemala final summer time.

“Bringing Olympic Football group stage and knockout matches to stadiums across the United States means more fans will witness this global event and experience the Olympic spirit firsthand,” mentioned Shana Ferguson, LA28 chief of sport and video games supply officer. “With the LA28 Ticket Draw for all Olympic sports on the horizon, we’re inviting global Football fans to register now for a chance to secure their tickets to history in the summer of 2028.”

Regional leaders emphasised latest investments in worldwide flights and providers. Last 12 months, St. Louis Lambert International Airport and metropolis and St. Louis County officers introduced British Airways would function nonstop flights between St. Louis and London. 

Flights start in April — months earlier than this 12 months’s FIFA World Cup by which a number of matches might be hosted in Kansas City. St. Louis enterprise leaders count on the occasion to deliver guests to St. Louis.  These investments will assist deliver extra worldwide consideration to the area in the course of the Olympic soccer matches, Explore St. Louis President and CEO Brad Dean mentioned.

“This isn’t just an announcement about Olympic soccer,” Dean mentioned. “This is a testament and an affirmation and confidence in the infrastructure of St. Louis, in the hospitality of St. Louis and the community of St. Louis.”

Registration for a chance to score tickets to the LA28 Summer Olympics is open by March 18. The schedule for each the ladies’s and males’s soccer tournaments, together with the dates and matches by stadium, might be introduced earlier than the primary ticket drop in April.

The matches would be the newest in a sequence of high-profile athletic occasions in St. Louis.

The metropolis hosted the U.S. Figure Skating National Championships final month, which culminated in the collection of the 2026 Olympic determine skating and ice dancing groups, and the NCAA Frozen Four Men’s Ice Hockey Championship final spring.

STLPR’s Abby Llorico contributed to this report.