Game Saver: Penn Medicine Protects Public During 2026 FIFA World Cup Matches in Philadelphia

This summer, Penn Medicine served as the official Medical Services Provider for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Philadelphia. Here at Penn Washington, we were able to catch up with some of the Penn experts leading this effort to learn more about their work during this World Cup and its relevance for large event crisis management. 

“The primary objectives in this work are to protect the health and safety of the public and protect access to our hospitals,” said Patrick J. Brennan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, and Senior Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, highlighting the importance of setting up on-site medical response capabilities to avoid overloading hospitals and potentially keeping non-match-goers from accessing care. 

FIFA hosted 6 World Cup games in Philadelphia, out of 78 total throughout the U.S., including a Round of 16 matchup between France and Paraguay on July 4. The teams played at Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field), and by the end of Philadelphia’s run, more than 409,000 fans from 190 nations around the world attended the city’s 6 matches. Philadelphia’s FIFA Fan Festival™ was no small activation either. Philadelphia was the only U.S. host city to run a free Fan Festival for the full 39 days of the tournament, with the site hosting as many as 15,000 people at one time. The magic of Penn Medicine supporting on-site care at both of these events is that they can treat more problems immediately, reduce unnecessary hospital transport, and keep hospital resources available for emergencies.

“We’re bringing more advanced care to the point of injury or to the field,” said Jonathan Levi Bar, MD, Director of Emergency Preparedness, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine.

On a drizzly, but electric afternoon, I ventured to Philadelphia’s FIFA Fan Festival™ to meet up with Dr. Bar. I was familiar with the festival as I also played a supporting role during this year’s World Cup as a Host City Ambassador for Philadelphia. I quickly moved past thousands of Croatian and Ghanian fans to find refuge from the rain under the Medical Services tent. While I was not allowed to record in the tent out of respect for patient privacy, rest assured the tent was of an exceptional standard. You can watch Dr. Bar’s Penn Explains video here (recorded under a different tent). 

“In mass gatherings, prevention is medicine – and our role was to make sure it was administered at scale,” Dr. Bar told me, as we discussed the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 when a fatal human crush occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, claiming the lives of 97 people. Dr. Bar noted that in his review of mass casualty incidents since 1883, at least 28 occurred at special events. “As Penn Medicine, we’re here to participate, serve our community, and lend our expertise.” 

During the Fan Festival alone, Dr. Brennan said Penn Medicine staffed 79 shifts. Penn also staffed all 6 matches outside the stadium in a medical tent, along with medical coverage inside the stadium on the pitch and for the player medical center. 

In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Kevin Kaiser, PhD, Adjunct Full Professor of Finance, noted that “Philadelphia has been highly effective in building the capability” to host large sporting competitions, unlike in other cities where “the benefit” of such events “failed to be realized.” 

Now that Philadelphia’s matches have come to an end, Penn Medicine’s legacy should not end with the final whistle. As an academic institution, Penn experts will document the experience, which may prove just as important as the care delivered in the moment. For Penn Washington, that’s the larger lesson too, as we work to bring Penn’s expertise to the broader policy community in Washington, D.C., and help turn Philadelphia’s World Cup readiness into lessons other cities can use. 

About Penn Washington

Penn Washington serves as the University of Pennsylvania’s hub in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to connect the expertise, knowledge, and research of the University to the Washington policy community in order to facilitate fact-based solutions to the challenges plaguing the country and the world.