Chelsea or Man City? British Consul General weighs impact of FIFA Club World Cup games in Atlanta

Caption

Atlanta will host six games in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

Credit: FIFA

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup arrives in Atlanta on Monday, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium will play host to six games through July 5. At least one-third of those games will include club teams from England, including Manchester City and Chelsea FC. And that is a big deal to Rachel Galloway, British Consul General in Atlanta, who joined GPB's All Things Considered host Peter Biello in the Talk Studio to discuss the impact of the games.

TRANSCRIPT

Peter Biello: Rachel, thank you so much for speaking with me.

Rachel Galloway: It's a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me today.

Peter Biello: So what role does a consul have in bringing these teams here?

Rachel Galloway: So, our job as a consulate: We are based here in the Southeast. We're headquartered out of Atlanta, but we cover six states. We also cover North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama. And what we're here to do is promote U.K.-U.S. relations, whether that's trade, helping U.S. businesses who want to work in the U.K., or U.K. businesses who want to come and settle here in their region. Or whether it's other areas of the relationship — and a really key part of the relationship between the U.K. and the U.S. is sport.

Peter Biello: Mm-hm.

Rachel Galloway: And I hadn't really realized until I moved to this region, how sport-mad people are here. And also the fact that, of all the sports people love, soccer is now a growing love for people in the United States. And therefore, it's a great opportunity for us to promote those relationships: to find people who already love English clubs, already watch the Premier League on TV every Saturday, or actually are just growing to know the game and want to take advantage of the opportunity to see world-class teams like Chelsea and Manchester City to see them play live, which is a really exciting opportunity for people.

Peter Biello: So, connect those two things for me, international relations and soccer (or football) promotion. How does that work? How does the fact that two English teams will be playing here in Atlanta this month strengthen the bond between the two countries?

Rachel Galloway: OK, so first of all, fans will come. Last year, Chelsea came here, OK? We did an event working with a local charity, Soccer in the Streets. Chelsea were playing Club América, the Mexican club. So we worked with the Mexican consulates. We put on British and Mexican food trucks, and we had local kids from across Atlanta come and do soccer skills with Soccer In the Streets, and Chelsea players came and played with them. And some of the Chelsea fans who had traveled with the team came to the event, so I got the opportunity to talk to them. And, you know, they'd never been to Atlanta before. They'd never thought of coming here. But because Chelsea were coming here, they'd taken it as an opportunity. So they'd come to see Chelsea play in Atlanta, and then they were spending time on vacation here, traveling the region. So it's just this fantastic opportunity to build that connection. That's the sort of people-to-people connection that we really care about, but it's also a business opportunity. Because we had a business breakfast. We're doing that this year again with the Atlanta Chamber with really high-class sports organizations who are based in this region. Companies from the U.K. who want to be in the U.S. have now set up their headquarters for North America out of Atlanta. And it's in part because they've had the opportunity to come and see some of these sporting events and see what's on offer here. And they're really wowed when they come.

Peter Biello: I see. So it's more than just generally developing goodwill between the two countries. It's an economic issue.

Rachel Galloway: Yes, it's a fantastic economic opportunity. You talk to people here about what they're looking forward to next year, when you have the countries' World Cup [with games in Atlanta in the summer of 2026] and, you know, the Atlanta Metro Chamber thinks this is worth about $500 million.

Peter Biello: $500 million?

Rachel Galloway: That's their assessment of what this World Cup can bring into Atlanta. So what we want is to work with businesses here and U.K. businesses to make that opportunity to be something that everyone can take advantage of and grow as a result.

Peter Biello: So, on a purely sport level, how big a deal is it to have this kind of football/soccer experience in Atlanta and particularly for fans of Manchester City and Chelsea FC?

Rachel Galloway: I think it's an immeasurable experience. I can't put a figure to it, but, you know — let's take Qatar, the World Cup in [2022]. It was during COVID and it was in Qatar, which is not the easiest place for everybody to go. 47,000 Americans went — more than any other home country's fan base. So, you've got people who really, really love the sport and are willing to travel for it. The Premier League has run these fan zones around the U.S. for the last few years and I got to go to the one in Nashville last year. So, they just spend the morning showing all the games, fans come from all over the country. You know, 5,000 people turned up on a Saturday morning in Nashville to watch the game. So these are people who just really, really love it and want that experience and now they're getting to see it live.

• RELATED: June kicks off a year of World Cup activities in Atlanta. Here’s what that means

Peter Biello: So, aside from the games themselves between now and the World Cup next year, what events is the [British Consulate in Atlanta] involved in or planning that will help keep fans engaged?

Rachel Galloway: We want to do more of the events we did last year, with local charities and local groups, whether that's here in Atlanta or wider across the region, taking advantage to play sports. We'll also want to be starting, over the next few months, to bring key businesses over to see what's on offer and what the opportunities will be around the World Cup, whether that is tourism or something more complicated. In December, we'll find out what the draw is, so we'll know which teams are playing where for the first few games [in 2026] and that will be a really exciting moment where everything will suddenly step up a notch as we know who we're going to be working with and what we're gonna be doing.

Peter Biello:You can hone in on particular businesses, particular events, particular nonprofits at that time.

Rachel Galloway: Exactly.

Peter Biello: Can't say just yet? It would be too soon.

Rachel Galloway: I think it's just a little bit difficult at the moment, because we really don't know which team will be where.

Peter Biello: Yeah.

Rachel Galloway: But I've been talking to people this week, had a meeting with the [Atlanta] Beltline, for example, what are they planning to do where can people go and watch the games? Because we're going to have all these people are going to come to Atlanta. And I think this is an important thing to understand about certainly European fans. They're going come without tickets. So there's going to be a lot more people than there are just going into watch at the Mercedes-Benz. So, where are those people going to go? Where are the big events going to be? And there's already fan watching events taking place for the games coming up this summer with the British American Business chamber doing a big watch party event, for example, for the Chelsea game. That's already in it. And at the same time, there'll also be a business panel to discuss some of these economic opportunities at that event. And so I think the next few months, particularly once we know the dates in December, will be about working out where are we going to watch, how are we gonna give the fans the best experience, but also how are going to give the fans the best of Atlanta and get them to see really what's on offer here.

Peter Biello: President Trump's travel ban is limiting citizens from a dozen countries in their efforts to come here. That, however, exempted players and coaches. So the players and the coaches will definitely get here. But fans of these two teams might have some questions about whether or not it's safe to come. What are people asking you about the travel ban and what are you able to tell them?

Rachel Galloway: So, what we do is we work with tourist agencies in the U.K., airlines and others to make sure that people traveling here have the access to what is the current rules to make sure that people who do buy tickets or buy flights to come here will get in the country, have the right papers and understand some of the complexities. For example, the fact that next year there will be games in Mexico and in Canada that they may need to cross the border if they want to go to those games — well, they WILL need to cross the border if they want to go to these games. What does that mean? And so really, for us, it's just about making sure that people have everything in the right place so that they have a really positive experience.

Peter Biello: So for you, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, do you have a preference, a favorite team among the two?

Rachel Galloway: So I'm from Manchester.

Peter Biello: Well, there you go. Manchester City.

Rachel Galloway: So, well, I could—! So, I grew up in a slightly strange household, which was that my dad is a Manchester United fan and my mum is a Manchester City fan. But it was my mum's dad who looked after us when we little. So my brother and I are both Manchester City fans. To our horror, my son has felt bad for Grandpa. So he's a United fan. So we're continuing the split loyalties in the household.

Peter Biello: Well, sometimes the rivalry can be fun though, right? Makes it fun watching the game together.

Rachel Galloway: Yes, so it's a little bit sad for my son, because since he decided to be a Manchester United fan is about the time they started not being very good anymore.

Peter Biello:  Well, we'll see how they do later this month, right?

Rachel Galloway: Yes, absolutely. It will all go well. And also he's had the other positive experience of England [national team] have been playing well since he was a soccer fan. So that's good. Whereas in my youth, England weren't doing as well. 

Peter Biello:  Well, Rachel Galloway, British Consul General in Atlanta, thank you so much for coming into the studio and speaking with me about this.

Rachel Galloway: Thank very much for having me.