CLEVELAND — Huntington Bank Field has seen some of the best athletes in football on the field, and this June, it will see the best athletes in football on the pitch as Cleveland is set to host an international friendly between Brazil and Egypt ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Haslam Sports Group, alongside the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, Florida Citrus Sports and Unified Events, announced that an international friendly soccer match between Brazil and Egypt will take place on June 6 at 6 p.m. as part of the Road to '26 series. The series brings elite national teams to major American venues throughout the year, leading up to the World Cup, which begins on June 11.
Five days before the best players in the world hit the pitch across 16 different cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, three of the top 20 players will be on the field in Cleveland. Vinícius Júnior and Raphinha on Brazil and Mohamed Salah on Egypt will go head-to-head as they prepare to make a run for the World Cup.
"It's really exciting to be hosting two nations in Brazil in Egypt, coming here to Cleveland at Huntington Bank Field, right before the start of the World Cup," said Haslam Sports Group Chief Communications Officer Peter John-Baptiste. "Cleveland is a soccer town. Yeah, it's a football town, but it's also a soccer town. And that was really evident when we hosted Inter Miami, along with the Columbus Crew, here last April."
Last year, the city saw a massive turnout for that Crew match with Inter Miami—home to global superstar Lionel Messi. More than 60,000 soccer fans filled the stadium, setting a Crew attendance record. The goal for this international pre-World Cup friendly is even higher.
"I think this city lives and breathes sports and obviously, being at the Browns' house, it's a win-win. I'm excited to see that happening and everybody that can benefit from it," said former Brazilian soccer player and current head of global soccer at Florida Citrus Sports.
Who, though, will benefit from this match being held in Cleveland? If you ask David Gilbert, the CEO of Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, it's the entire downtown.
"We expect somewhere around $18 million or more in new, direct spending as a result of this game being here," Gilbert said. "This spending here for this event will largely be downtown, but it will fill up nearly every hotel, every restaurant, and what that does is that puts money in people's pockets. Bottom line, that's what this does. So the money, when we calculate this, is dollars from outside of the market spent in-market. In this case, really from all the fans coming in, and they drop their money in places where now $18 million more goes into residents' pockets, they then spend it on other goods and services in the community, so the dollars keep going, and at the end of the day, it creates jobs."
The groups that helped bring the event to Cleveland hope for a sellout in the premier international soccer match. That isn't expected to be a problem for a city like Cleveland that so loves its sporting events.
"It's not just that we get so many [events], they perform incredibly well. We are such a great sports town," Gilbert said.
Tickets for the Road to '26 international friendly match between Brazil and Egypt go on sale Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. Fans can register for presale access by clicking here.
