The World Cup is coming to North America--including Mexico and Canada--but Chicago will not be hosting the internationally popular sporting event.
If you travel around the city of Chicago on almost any give day you will probably find someone enjoying the game of soccer.
“I grew up in a place where everybody plays soccer,” fan Hassan Younous said.
Brandon Hayes has been playing it since childhood.
"It’s such a team sport, you don’t have to be a giant built guy to be the best," he said.
Fans of the game in the United States, like Hayes, received some good news: that the World Cup would come to North America in 2026.
But the World Cup will not come to Chicago.
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Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the World Cup’s governing body wanted a blank check from the city's taxpayers and he did not want to give that up.
“The guys from international soccer wanted us to underwrite their sporting event," Emanuel said. "I am not going to write a company a blank check that can fleece the taxpayers."
Chicago was the site of the 1994 World Cup opener.
Fans would have loved to see it come to the city in eight years.
World Cup fans still have have hope that one day the game they love ill come back to Chicago.
“I’ve never been to a World Cup game, hopefully some day it comes back here (and) I can go to a game or two,” Hayes said.
