Mayor Mandel, International Officials to Discuss Women's World Cup

On Friday, Edmonton’s headlines are dominated by yet another update on the downtown arena project. Yet, Mayor Stephen Mandel will be meeting with international soccer officials this weekend to discuss what’s a more pressing civic issue — our hosting role for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.

In March, Canada won the bid to host the biggest event in women’s sports. Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver were identified as the major host cities and the federal government backed this bid.

You may have already noticed the signs at the city limits stating that we are a World Cup “candidate city.”

Basically, we have made a promise to host a massive sporting event of global importance. And that bid would need either a new soccer stadium or, more likely, a massive revitalization of Commonwealth Stadium.

Again: That’s a promise made by Edmonton to the world to be ready to host soccer in a world-class facility. Really, while the arena debate is important to the future of downtown, the World Cup bid is massive to our international reputation as a city. If the arena is big, then the WWC bid is gargantuan.

On Monday morning, Mayor Mandel, representatives from FIFA — the world’s governing body for soccer — and the Canadian Soccer Association will hold a press conference to discuss Edmonton’s progress as a World Cup host city.

So, while Friday’s arena update is important, the discussions with FIFA should be the ones getting the major mention right now. Soon, the talk in this city will shift from hockey facility to soccer facilities.