The 2026 FIFA World Cup may be over, but Miami’s love for football is only getting stronger. A new study by Betway revealing “North America’s Post-World Cup Soccer Hotbeds” has positioned the Magic City at No. 1 in becoming the country’s next soccer stronghold.
And it didn’t come close to the others in the ranking either, scoring a 98.58 over cities like Atlanta with 90.41, New York City with 86.37 and Los Angeles with 85.40.
Why the 305 takes the top spot
To determine where the “soccer shift” was happening, the sports betting site surveyed 1,201 U.S. adults on whether they were more likely to watch soccer regularly after the World Cup. The top 20 U.S. cities were put into a city-level index with a “Total Score” based on World Cup search interest per capita, World Cup-related conversation volume per capita and the number of active soccer clubs and organizations located in each city.
Miami topped the charts with a staggering 18.2 million searches — the highest World Cup search interest per capita of any city measured. This isn’t much of a surprise for a metro that has long served as a “cultural bridge to soccer-mad Latin America,” per the study.
And, of course, you can’t deny that having the greatest player in the world right in our backyard has elevated football fever to new heights. The study notes that Lionel Messi’s World Cup leadership — and the fact that the Inter Miami player calls the city home — is a major factor in why Miami topped the list.
10 top cities leading America’s soccer shift
The study ranked the following as set to become the country’s football hotspots:
- Miami
- Atlanta
- New York City
- Los Angeles
- Boston
- Seattle
- St Louis
- Salt Lake City
- Houston
- Chicago
See the full ranking here.
