The township of Langley, British Columbia, has celebrated a historic milestone ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ with the official opening of the first FIFA Arena facility in Canada.

Through the FIFA Arena programme and in partnership with the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) and BC Soccer Association, a mini-pitch was opened at Langley Events Centre near Vancouver, which will host seven matches at the FIFA World Cup 2026™. The 48-tournament will be played at 16 Host Cities across Canada, Mexico and the United States from 11 June to 19 July 2026.

The inauguration was attended by CSA President Peter Augruso, the Mayor of Langley Township Eric Woodward and FIFA Chief Member Associations Officer Elkhan Mammadov.

The mini-pitch will benefit 600 boys and girls at the Ewart Middle School, as well as 2,500 children in nearby schools in the community.

FIFA Arena pitches allow for small-sided games on a high-quality surface and have already been installed in all six continents as part of FIFA’s commitment to develop the game and make football truly global.

Officially launched on the occasion of the 75th FIFA Congress in Asunción, Paraguay, the FIFA Arena project aims to build at least 1,000 mini-pitches across the globe by 2031. They are designed to create accessible, safe and sustainable football infrastructure, particularly in areas where children and communities have limited access to quality sports facilities.

Football participation in Canada is at an all-time high and the nation’s next challenge is to ensure that there is enough infrastructure to give everyone the opportunity to play.

“We're so excited to have this as our first mini-pitch in Canada. We're planning to have three mini-pitches through the programme and we're going to cover from coast, to coast, to coast,” said Mr Augruso. “It's a tremendous opportunity and it's a great partnership with FIFA to work on this because it's for the kids and the kids are going to enjoy this facility immensely.”

The CSA President said that football was experiencing unprecedented growth in Canada – even surpassing ice hockey – and that projects such as FIFA Arena will help existing and future players.

“It's an opportunity for these kids to aspire to make the pro teams, the national teams, to get them excited,” he said. “In Canada, football, what we call soccer here, has surpassed hockey in international participation for our country, so now we have more registered players in soccer than we have in hockey. This will ramp that up to another level, we're sure.”