Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake soccer player gets called up to the USMNT in the run up to the World Cup. Photo: Fauzan Saari

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — This time next year, the United States, Canada and Mexico will be enjoying the rare privilege of hosting a shared FIFA World Cup.

The number of host cities totals 16: two in Canada, three in Mexico and the remainder in the United States from coast to coast.

In the early planning phases of the enormous event a few years ago, Salt Lake City was involved in discussions to hopefully be included as one of those highly coveted locations. At one point, a deeper dive even had Salt Lake thrilled to be considered as a possible practice facility stopover.

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Unfortunately for fans of sports and of financial benefits to the community at large, the FIFA World Cup will have no direct logistical connection to the state whatsoever. No states adjacent to Utah made the cut either.

Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake, however, is emerging as having its own connection to the Cup via 21-year-old midfielder Diego Luna.

U.S. Men’s National Team icons Alexi Lalas and Landon Donovan referred to Luna recently as one to watch during television coverage.

The California native has been called up from RSL to play on the USMNT in the CONCACAF and Gold Cup tournaments.

The last Real Salt Lake player to participate at the highest level of the sport was Bryan Oviedo, who represented his home nation of Costa Rica in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The U.S. won’t name the members of the team that will represent the country until spring 2026, and the draw for the World Cup pool play will take place in Las Vegas.

Although third-party websites already have placeholder ticket sales soaring into the thousands, with VIP hospitality packages skyrocketing into the tens of thousands, official individual match tickets go on sale by FIFA approximately this fall.

The U.S. men’s team historically hasn’t always qualified to participate in World Cups and will get an automatic inclusion in 2026, as is the rule for all host countries.

The USA men’s team historically hasn’t always qualified to participate in World Cups and will get an automatic inclusion in 2026 as is the rule for all host countries.