Workers in Toronto prepare on Tuesday for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.COLE BURSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Public funding from all levels of government to support this summer’s World Cup events will exceed $1-billion, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
The report says the federal contribution announced to date is $473-million, while the remaining $593-million will come from other levels of government, for a total of $1.06-billion.
The report cautions that there is still some uncertainty about the funding amounts.
Canada will co-host the FIFA men’s World Cup with the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 19. The World Cup will include 104 soccer games, of which seven will be played in Vancouver and six in Toronto.
The PBO said this works out to about $82-million in public funding per game, which is in line with recent international costs to host World Cup events.
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Federal funding for the World Cup has come in waves.
In 2024, Ottawa approved $104-million for the City of Toronto and $116-million for the Government of British Columbia to help with the costs of local-level hosting duties. Soccer Canada also received a $3.6-million grant for preparation costs.
The federal budget released in November, 2025, added $100-million and the spring fiscal update, tabled in April, announced a further $146-million. Those amounts include transfers to other levels of government for security-related costs. An additional $3.6-million is attributed to an internal reallocation of funding by Public Safety Canada for FIFA-related expenses.
The PBO said updates to municipal and provincial spending plans may be announced in the coming weeks, which could change how the $146-million laid out in April’s spring update is used.
“It is currently unclear whether the federal contributions to the host cities announced in the [spring economic update] are covering additional city-level expenses that were not previously announced or whether the federal government is covering a larger share of existing planned spending for the cities,” the PBO report states.
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The PBO noted that unlike Toronto and Vancouver, the federal government did not sign any contracts or agreements with FIFA. But as part of Canada’s bid to host World Cup games, the report said federal ministers provided FIFA with “letters of guarantee” that committed Ottawa to providing essential federal services.
These services include facilitating the entry of FIFA players and staff into Canada, issuing temporary visas and permits, ensuring compliance with federal labour laws, enhancing safety and security and protecting FIFA commercial rights in Canada.
The report said the majority of funding allocated to the FIFA World Cup under the November budget and April spring update is for security-related items, including $79-milllion for RCMP security costs.
The PBO also looked at how Canada’s public funding compares with other World Cup events.
The $82-million per game works out to US$59.6-million. That is lower than the US$79.6-million per game spent by Russia in 2018 and the US$90.9-million spent by Brazil in 2014. The PBO comparisons are based on an academic paper published in 2022, which did not include an estimate for the 2022 World Cup, hosted by Qatar.
FIFA released an estimate in 2024, based on research compiled by Deloitte, that said hosting the World Cup will contribute $3.8-billion in “positive economic output” for Canada as a host nation.
Wayne Smith, director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the positive international attention on Toronto and Vancouver will generate longer-term gains that are difficult to measure.
He said both cities would likely have already been busy with tourists in the summer, limiting the immediate additional economic impact of hosting the games.
“I see it as a ‘buy-and-hold’ type of investment,” he said. “If you’re looking for the return from the event itself, you’re probably not going to get it. But if you look at this as: ‘We are going to build a positive image of Canada and Toronto and Vancouver as a tourism destination,’ yeah, this is something that over the long term will really help.”