AMID RECORD-BREAKING attendance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, researchers have warned of the risk of communicable diseases, calling for preparedness and cross-border surveillance.1
Record-Breaking Attendance
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be one of the largest international mass gatherings ever organised.
It has already seen record breaking attendance, with more than 4.6 million people going to the first 72 matches of the tournament.2
This year is also the first that the tournament is hosted by three countries simultaneously: Canada, USA, and Mexico.1
Millions of international travellers, players, journalists, staff, and supporters are currently moving between venues (over several weeks), marking one of the largest episodes of short-term global mobility recorded in modern sport.3
Mitigating Risk
This creates opportunity for an amplified risk of both endemic and imported communicable diseases.
Large-scale events create environments that can foster the transmission of various pathogens, held up by factors such as high population density, sanitary conditions, diverse demographic origins, and people’s various immune profiles.4, 5
Pulling on examples from previous mass gatherings, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2016 Olympics, the 2019 Pan American Games, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup, researchers stressed the importance of pre-travel counselling, vaccination strategies, epidemiological surveillance, vector control, food safety measures, strong communication strategies, and rapid outbreak response systems.1
Recommended Vaccines
They compiled a list of the main communicable disease risks at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It included: measles, pertussis, influenza and other respiratory viruses, COVID-19, foodborne infections, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, dengue, zika, malaria, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, rabies, and those caused by antimicrobial-resistant organisms.
The study also highlighted key vaccines recommended for people attending the World Cup in Canada, the USA, and Mexico.
Those were: measles-mumps-rubella, tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis, influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal ACWY.
Whilst acknowledging communicable disease risk at the World Cup, researchers noted that cross-border surveillance and pre-travel counselling can substantially curb the velocity of an outbreak.
They called for the strengthening of vaccination coverage, preventive education, and international collaboration to reduce infectious disease risk during this unprecedented event.
References
1 Rodriguez-Morales AJ et al. The 2026 FIFA World Cup: communicable disease risks and advice for visitors to Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Travel Med Infect Dis. 20206;DOI:10.1016/j.tmaid.2026.102995.
2 FIFA. Records tumble as FIFA World Cup 2026 Group Stage sets new benchmark for football’s greatest show. 2026. Available at: https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/news/records-world-cup-2026-group-stage-sets-new-benchmark. Last accessed: 2 July 2026.
3 Furlan JPR et al. The FIFA World Cup as a global sentinel event for antimicrobial resistance. Lancet Microbe. 2026;DOI:10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101441.
4 Memish ZA et al. Mass gatherings medicine: public health issues arising from mass gathering religious and sporting events. Lancet. 2019;393:2073–84.
5 Alshammari SM, Mikler AR. Modeling disease spread at global mass gatherings: data requirements and challenges. Recent Adv Comput Sci Commun. 2016;463:17–26.
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