New street soccer park coming to Kansas City aims to boost play ahead of World Cup
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Kansas City is already seeing benefits of being a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Later this year, a new Visa Street Soccer Park will open on the Northeast side of the city.
A similar park recently opened in San Francisco earlier this month.
The parks are developed through a partnership between non-profit Street Soccer USA and Bank of America.
The goal is to help kids in challenged neighborhoods play soccer.
Local soccer players and businesses said they can’t wait to see it complete.
“Absolutely awesome for the entire neighborhood. It is wonderful,” said Grace Cabrera with Jose’s Fiesta Rental.
Cabrera’s business sits right across from where the new soccer park is being built. She said having that addition will only attract more people.
READ MORE: Kansas City’s soccer boom sets the stage for 2026 World Cup
“Before, with the old fields which were very nice, it was very hard to get in on the schedule to play,” she said, “now they added two new fields, much nicer amenities, it just continues to grow.”
Once complete, the park will feature two professional-grade Bank of America fields, facilities with lighting, digital scoreboards and seating areas for spectators and special events.
Cabrera said, although it’s not finished yet, it already gets packed, something she feels will help boost the surrounding small businesses.
“We do party rentals, probably one of the number one things is kid party rentals,” said Cabrera, “so we cannot ask for better marketing and promotion with a park filled with hundreds, hundreds of kids, families every week.”
For those who eat, breathe and sleep soccer this new park means a lot to them.
“This is kind of like an active area for a bunch of athletes who go unnoticed, so being out here, maybe not in front of big people but just going out and showcasing their abilities for local tournaments and local soccer events,” said Angel De Avila.
De Avila has been playing soccer since he was three years old, and said this used to be a place overlooked, but now he feels like that will change.
“It kind of adds so much more like a stadium scenario and everything so it attracts more people to the space itself and with that it’s more play and more fun,” said De Avila.
READ MORE: How Kansas City is gearing up for the World Cup one year ahead of arrival
The community said the outside investment is something that the Northeast will only benefit from, giving them a chance to also shine with the rest of the city.
“It also shows that the community cares about the people here, so I think with them seeing that it also gives them the energy and motivation to come out and use it,” said De Avila.
“I think a lot of times we have been maybe not thought of in recent developments or investments, but that is all changing, that is all changing,” added Cabrera.
The street soccer park will be completed and unveiled in September.
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