Adam Powell is host city director for Vancouver for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (PROVIDED BY A. POWELL/University of Windsor)
By Kate Hargreaves
While elite soccer players around the world were gearing up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, behind the scenes staff were making sure that cities across North America were ready to host them alongside thousands of cheering fans.
One of those people is UWindsor graduate Adam Powell, who spent 15 months during the planning phase of the event as host city operations manager before becoming host city director in Vancouver at the start of the tournament.
Powell, who received his Bachelor of Human Kinetics in sport, recreation and leisure management in 2011, was responsible for ensuring that the City of Vancouver was ready for the event.
“My days were spent ensuring that the host city was aware of and fulfilling their obligations, and the same for us here at FIFA,” he explained.
“We made a lot of promises to each other, and someone needs to keep track of those.”
Powell’s role required a great deal of problem-solving and coordination across different people and departments.
“There’s a lot of troubleshooting, support and connecting different departments so they can align on their interdependencies, erasing silos,” he said.
“I spend my days meeting with both the cities and FIFA, briefing, debriefing, troubleshooting and sharing information.”
While all this is a lot of work, Powell said that he was excited to see Canada in the Cup.
“I’m excited to hopefully see Canada get their first World Cup win,” Powell predicted before Canada took to the pitch. “Seeing the crowds turn up in the host cities and watching years of planning come to fruition.”
“This is a special moment for Canada in so many ways."