2026 FIFA World Cup Language Access Planning Map

Hover or tap a location to view participating countries, potential language considerations, and planning notes. Some cities may not have additional languages identified, but all host cities and team base camp communities should anticipate increased international travel and related language access needs.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring millions of visitors to host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. For healthcare organizations, that means planning for potential shifts in language demand as international fans, teams, media, and support staff arrive in local communities.

Use this interactive map to explore which participating countries are scheduled to play matches in each host city and identify the languages that may see unusual or increased demand during the tournament. While no forecast can predict exact utilization, understanding potential language patterns can help hospitals, health systems, clinics, and emergency departments prepare interpreter resources and language access workflows in advance.

Important Planning Consideration

While the map highlights languages associated with participating countries and team activity, healthcare organizations should anticipate increased demand for widely spoken languages that often accompany international travel and tourism. In particular, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, and ASL may experience increased utilization across many host cities and team base camp communities regardless of which teams are scheduled to play there.

The map should be used as a planning tool alongside local demographic data, historical interpreter utilization, and anticipated tourism activity.

How Martti Prepared

As part of this research, the Martti team reviewed projected language needs across all U.S. host cities and team base camp communities and evaluated our interpreter network to ensure coverage for languages that may experience increased demand during the tournament. While healthcare organizations should always prepare for unexpected language needs, proactive planning helps ensure patients can access qualified interpreters when and where they need them.

About This Map

This map highlights potentiallanguage access planning considerations associated with 2026 FIFA World Cuphost cities and team base camp communities.

Languages shown are based onparticipating countries, anticipated team activity, publicly available languageinformation, and known fan travel patterns. However, language demand during major international events is influenced by many factors beyond participatingteams, including tourism, media presence, international travel, and local demographics.

As a result:

• All U.S. host cities and team base camp communities are included in this map, evenwhen no additional languages were identified through participating-country analysis.
• Widely used languages such as Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, and ASL mayexperience increased demand across many host cities regardless of matchschedules.
• Actual language utilization may differ from the languages shown.
• Healthcare organizations should use this resource alongside interpreter utilization data,community demographics, and local planning efforts.

Beyond Language Trends: Planning for Surge Demand

Healthcare organizations in 2026 FIFA World Cup host cities may experience increased demand for language services, higher volumes of less-common language requests, and operational challenges associated with large-scale gatherings.As organizations prepare, key considerations include:

• Interpreter staffing and surge capacity
• Coverage for less-common and emerging languages
• Vendor escalation procedures and response times
• Translation workflows for high-priority patient materials
• Emergency preparedness and mass casualty planning
• Staff education on language access workflows during high-demand periods In preparation for the tournament, the Martti team reviewed projected language demand across host cities and strengthened interpreter coverage in areas where increased utilization may occur.

Read more: Which Languages Could See Increased Demand During the 2026 FIFA World Cup?