USMNT Upcoming Friendlies Bring in Next Chapter of Atlanta Soccer Growth

Just a decade ago, few might have considered Atlanta, Ga., one of the soccer hotspots of the United States. But in 2026, it’s impossible to separate the sport from the city.

The U.S. Men’s National Team is days away from its first matches of the year against European powerhouses Belgium and Portugal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The next international game at the 70,000+ capacity venue will be June 15 when Spain and Cabo Verde compete in the first of eight 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Atlanta. While the upcoming USMNT friendlies mark the next step in the team’s journey towards the international tournament, on a larger scale they represent the next chapter of the soccer explosion in Atlanta that started many years prior.

Everything changed in 2014 when Major League Soccer (MLS) announced it had awarded an expansion franchise to the city led by entrepreneur and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. The city immediatelywelcomed the team, as it had with previous professional soccer clubs such as the Atlanta Apollos, the Atlanta Silverbacks and the Atlanta Beat.

Atlanta United FC took MLS by storm in its inaugural season in 2017. In its first regular season match, a crowd of 55,297 filled Bobby Dodd Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech, the Five Stripes’ home before they moved mid-season to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta United has led the league in attendance every year since 2017 (except during the 2020 pandemic-impacted season). The club averaged 41,435 fans in 2025, beating second-place Seattle Sounders by more than 10,000. Atlanta United won the 2018 MLS Cup in just its second season of existence and added two more trophies the following year in the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup.

The next major step of soccer growth in the city came in September 2023 when U.S. Soccer announced that it was moving its headquarters from Chicago to Fayetteville, Ga. just south of Atlanta. The Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center will serve as a central hub for all 27 National Teams and, after years of development, is set to open in May 2026.

Atlanta showed its support for the announcement the next time the USA came to visit. On April 6, 2024, the U.S. Women's National Team won 2-1 against Japan in the 2024 SheBelieves Cup in its first appearance in Atlanta since 2016. The crowd of 50,644 set a record for the highest attendance ever for a USWNT friendly on home soil and marked the largest home crowd for any USWNT match since the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final. It set the standard for 2028, when Atlanta’s new National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) club will take the field for the first time.

The same energy was shown on the men’s side when the USMNT played in Atlanta in June 2024. For the first time at Mercedes-Benz and the first in the city since 2017, the USMNT faced Panama in the 2024 Copa América in front of 59,145 fans.

In that same tournament, over 70,000 came to downtown Atlanta to see Lionel Messi and Argentina play Canada. The 2022 FIFA World Cup winner and eight-time Ballon d'Or awardee returned to Atlanta during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with Inter Miami CF last summer. Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain also brought tens of thousands of fans to the venue during the tournament. To close the stadium’sjam-packed summer, more European clubs came in August for the 2025 Premier League Summer Series including AFC Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester United and West Ham United.

The previous competitions have all led to 2026. After the USMNT friendlies this week, Atlanta will host five group stage, one Round of 32, one Round of 16 and one semifinal 2026 FIFA World Cup matches. From June 15 to July 15, ATLiens will get to partake in the biggest soccer tournament in the world and the next chapter in the growth of the sport in Atlanta.