The plan to keep Philly’s World Cup matches safe has been years in the making, officials say
Philly will host six matches in 18 days, and law enforcement officials said they have been preparing a security plan since 2022.
When the World Cup arrives in Philadelphia next month, fans attending matches at Lincoln Financial Field will likely speak languages including French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Croatian, and Papiamentu, the native language of Curaçao, one of the teams slated to take the pitch in South Philly.
Philadelphia police officers should be able to converse with nearly all of them, Commissioner Kevin Bethel said Friday, thanks to new technology in officers’ body-worn cameras that can detect up to 120 languages and provide real-time translation for the officers and the people they’re speaking with.
The tool is just one small measure of how law enforcement officials say they’ve been preparing to ensure a safe and festive atmosphere around the World Cup, one of the largest international spectacles the city will have seen in recent memory.
The global soccer tournament will bring six matches and tens of thousands of fans to Philadelphia starting in mid-June, including a knockout-round contest on July 4 that will overlap with other celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence.
» READ MORE: Lincoln Financial Field will look almost unrecognizable during the World Cup
Bethel and other law enforcement leaders, including Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office, said during a news conference Friday that they’ve been working for years on plans to secure World Cup matches and the celebrations around them.
“It’s almost like the Super Bowl,” said Major Richard D’Ambrosio of the Pennsylvania State Police, “only we’re having six of them over a total of 18 days.”
As is typical for most law enforcement initiatives, officials declined to offer specifics about how many officers will be deployed or how their assignments might take shape. But they said they’ve been working through plans for the event ever since Philadelphia was named a World Cup host site in 2022, and that their operation would involve city patrol officers, K9 officers, drones, and officers from a host of local and federal agencies.
Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches this summer, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries — and what those fans need to know about Philly. Click here for more.
Bethel said the planning for July 4 has been particularly involved, as the World Cup match is just one event in a day that will feature a host of significant celebrations across the city. That holiday weekend in the past has also seen unusually high levels of violence away from big events — and police are responsible for continuing to ensure the safety of residents everywhere.
“No one is going home that day,” Bethel said of his officers.
After World Cup matches, bars will also be able to serve alcohol until 4 a.m., adding a new wrinkle to potential staffing deployment. Bethel said officials will be able to develop a plan for that once they know which bars apply for and receive permits to extend their hours.
» READ MORE: Will keeping Philly bars open later during the World Cup be worth it? Philly bars weigh in.
He said there may be some road closures, and that some events — including a fan festival in Fairmount Park — may have additional layers of security screening to ensure safety.
But he said security measures would not resemble those of Pope Francis’ 2015 visit, when Center City was effectively locked down and would-be pilgrims were subjected to a maze of security fences, concrete barriers, and hordes of law enforcement officers.
Jacobs, the FBI official, credited the advance work among Philadelphia-area law enforcement officials approaching this year’s global spectacle, saying it would “put us in a position to make sure that people see the best version of the city.”
