As the World Cup kicks off and everyone’s gaze turns to North America, there is only one goal for the thousands of people involved in the logistics – ensuring the competition runs smoothly.
With one of the biggest football tournaments ever put on – 48 countries will play 104 matches across three host countries – Generation Logistics has crunched the numbers to reveal the eye-popping statistics behind organising the event.
Over one million llbs (453,592kg) of team equipment must be shifted across the US, Mexico and Canada throughout the 39-day tournament and 5,000 vehicles are required, purely tо support the transportation оf these supplies.
To help support this, around one million sq ft of warehouse space is needed to manage the infrastructure; the equivalent оf 14 football pitches.
But the competitions’ logistics don’t just cover players’ shin pads and palm-cooling devices, it’s also about keeping the millions of travelling fans fed and watered.
Generation Logistics said host cities were expected tо generate a combined £208m from stadium food and beverage sales, causing hospitality spend to soar past Euro 2024 figures by a whopping 150%.
Around 1.56 million gallons оf beer will be drunk іn the stadiums alone, enough tо fill the Statue оf Liberty twice over, although some might suggest this was an extravagant waste.
Over five million hot dogs will also be consumed by spectators and if you laid those hot dogs out end-to-end, Generation Logistics calculated they would create a continuous line stretching all the way from Boston tо LA.
Bethany Windsor, programme director for Generation Logistics, said: “This is set to be the biggest World Cup in the tournament’s long history, with more teams playing and more nations hosting than ever before.
“With that, naturally, the scale and logistical operation off the pitch becomes much larger and presents more challenges.
“The amount of equipment that needs to be moved in such a short space of time across a very large area is staggering, and the figures really show the true scale of what is set to be the biggest sporting tournament in history, from a logistical point of view.”
