This FIFA Club World Cup competitor will call Macon home before the tournament.
Los Angeles Football Club will call Macon home before it goes to Atlanta to compete in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, officials announced Tuesday.
LAFC, which competes in Major League Soccer, will hold official practice at Mercer University leading up to the club’s upcoming game in Atlanta against Chelsea FC, one of the biggest clubs in European soccer, Macon Mayor Lester Miller said during a press conference Tuesday.
“For the next several weeks, the Los Angeles Football Club will call Macon home,” Miller said. “I want us to travel to Atlanta to help support them and cheer loudly as they begin their run for the (FIFA) Club World Cup.”
LAFC will compete against Chelsea at 3 p.m. on June 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The California club is one of three squads from the U.S. competing in the Club World Cup. The others are Inter Miami FC and Seattle Sounders FC.
The team will land in Macon at the “end of next week,” said Daniel Tate, deputy athletics director for external operations at Mercer University.
Dates and times of practices were “not finalized” by Tuesday afternoon, he told The Telegraph.
These will not be open to the public, but media will be invited, Tate said.
Outside of practice though, the team plans to hold public outreach events while in town.
“They already reached out, they want to do some community events, which is really exciting,” Tate said.
Macon was also approved as a practice site for the Club World Cup next summer, which will host games in Atlanta, but a team was not yet chosen, Miller said.
Jim Cole, athletics director for Mercer University, said Miller has “put Macon on the map.”
Miller thanked Visit Macon and Mercer University for helping to bring one of the clubs in this international tournament to Macon. He also applauded recent local athletic achievements, including Rhythm and Rally, the world’s largest indoor pickleball facility; the Macon Bacon baseball team, which sold out its opening game for this season; and Southwest High School’s basketball team, which made a historic state basketball championship appearance.
“Macon-Bibb County is taking its place on the world stage in a way in which we’ve never done it before,” Miller said.
The economic impact of sports tourism is expected to grow substantially this year, according to Gary Wheat, CEO and president of Visit Macon, who wore a black and gold suit in honor of the LAFC colors.
Bibb County has already received $11 million in economic impact from sports tourism in 2025, Wheat said. The county saw $12.5 million last year, and $2 million in 2017.
“We are so much on the international stage with our music, now its our sports,” Wheat said.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 3:56 PM.
