WHEREAS, The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has partnered with the State of California, along with other states in the nation and cities in Mexico and Canada, to host the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup from June 11 through July 19, 2026, and it is appropriate at this time to highlight the positive impact that this event has made since the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930; and

WHEREAS, FIFA has estimated that football — or soccer as it is known in North America — is played by upwards of 240,000,000 people worldwide, with records tracing the origins of the sport back more than 2,000 years to ancient China, Greece, and Rome, and the governing body of soccer in the United States, U.S. Soccer, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013, noting that soccer has become the fourth most popular sport in the nation; and

WHEREAS, The history of soccer in California dates back to the 1800s in Sacramento and Northern California, with leagues such as the California Foot Ball League and Western League leading to the formation of the California State Football Association in 1902, and the sport has since gained a rapid expansion of interest in the United States that parallels other nations around the world; and

WHEREAS, Following the introduction of soccer at the 1900 Olympic Games, FIFA was founded in 1904 and held its first FIFA World Cup in 1930 with teams from 13 countries, demonstrating international soccer talent on a stage outside of the Olympics, and, as one of the most-watched sporting events worldwide, the tournament has expanded to include 48 teams; and

WHEREAS, Having introduced the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, FIFA now holds its Men’s and Women’s World Cups in a staggered, alternating four-year cycle with each tournament held one year apart — the men’s tournament taking place in even-numbered years and the women’s tournament held in odd-numbered years — and the U.S. Women’s National Team has become the dominant team in the tournament as a four-time Women’s World Cup champion; and

WHEREAS, As one of the most popular sporting events in the world, the FIFA World Cup has proven to be greatly beneficial to its hosting cities as they welcome millions of travelers attending games in person and billions of people tuning in to watch, and the upcoming FIFA World Cup matches and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in California are anticipated to significantly benefit statewide and local economies from increased tourism and the utilization of regional transit systems; and

WHEREAS, Recognized as a universal symbol of human unity and braided nationalism, the FIFA World Cup promotes the beauty of soccer not merely as a game between two sets of eleven individuals but as an event that fosters the boundless excitement and passionate interactions between the fans of competing teams; and

WHEREAS, Aligning with the longstanding, unifying mission that is attributed to the sport of soccer, the FIFA World Cup promotes international goodwill and has served as a simple, yet potent, mechanism for uniting people around the world while encouraging international cooperation, and in an increasingly divided world, the FIFA World Cup offers an international arena in which people may come together, put aside their differences, embrace cooperation, and experience joy and unity together; now, therefore, be it