Black Atlantans weigh excitement, impact and legacy of World Cup
As soon as Atlanta was awarded FIFA World Cup matches, Amy Davies Shabazz knew exactly what she had to do.
The Peachtree City resident immediately entered FIFA’s ticket lottery and eventually scored four tickets for her family to attend the June 27 match between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uzbekistan.
For Shabazz, a nurse scientist who researches rare diseases for a pharmaceutical company, the World Cup’s arrival in Atlanta is a chance to celebrate a game woven into her family’s history.
Her mother is from Liberia and her father is from Sierra Leone — both soccer-loving West African nations.
Her father grew up playing the sport before immigrating to the United States, where he joined local Liberian community teams. The game quickly became a family tradition.
“Soccer is a big part of the culture in West Africa and all of us growing up played soccer,” said Shabazz, who was born in Charlotte. “At that time, we were the only Black kids doing it anyway.”
Although neither Liberia nor Sierra Leone qualified for the tournament, Shabazz already knows where her loyalties lie.
“I’m pulling for all of the African teams,” she said.
Shabazz’s enthusiasm reflects the excitement many Black Atlantans feel as the world’s biggest sporting event prepares to arrive in one of America’s Blackest cities.
But alongside the anticipation are questions about who will benefit from the tournament long after the final whistle.
As FIFA World Cup competition heads to Atlanta, the city is rushing to put the finishing touches on preparations before soccer fans and tourists arrive from around the globe.
Businesses have set up shop, public transportation plans have been revised, and themed festivities have been planned for each of the eight countries participating in the World Cup during its stint in Atlanta. Watch parties, activations and celebrations are planned throughout the city.
Yet, as the games are set to kick off Monday, some residents wonder whether the changes underway are intended more for visitors than for the people who call Atlanta home.
“What’s going to happen … when FIFA leaves?” said London Williams, a Midtown resident and youth coach with Soccer Side Kicks. “It’s definitely performative.”
Williams is excited for the World Cup because he has been a soccer fan for as long as he can remember.
He’s especially interested in Argentina, Brazil and Spain and plans to attend watch parties at Centennial Olympic Park.
Still, Williams believes much of the recent construction and development tied to the World Cup amounts to “smoke and mirrors.”
“It sucks that it had to take FIFA coming here to see a lot of changes,” he said. “But as soon as (FIFA’s) gone, I think it’s going to go straight back to how it was, unfortunately.”
His concerns are echoed by Sango Deji IFA Jise, owner of the metaphysical shop Thunder Juju Botanica in East Lake.
Jise said the World Cup has been great for business but bad for community.
While she said the World Cup has generated new business, she worries about its impact on longtime residents and regular clients.
Jise said rising costs and accelerating development have made gentrification even more noticeable in East Lake.
“(Lower-income neighbors) come in here and express their concerns,” said Jise, who specializes in West African-based spiritual practices. “Some will ask for prayer because, whoever owns these homes, they’re now putting them out. They’re trying to do things differently because of the Cup.”
Jise also wonders whether Atlanta’s commitment to development will continue once the Cup ends.
Rather than feeling included in the experience, as many residents felt during the 1996 Olympics, Jise said now, Atlantans have largely been spectators to preparations and “ambushed” by the World Cup.
“The average person can’t even afford a World Cup ticket,” she said. “At least we could see the Olympics when it came. We could stand at the fence and see the torch being lit. The families came together and cooked outside just to see the parade come through the city. It was more of the community.”
At Men’s Room Barber Shop in Decatur, manager Anthony Sellars said most of his customers aren’t talking about attending matches. Instead, they’re discussing how to avoid the crowds.
Sellars has noticed an increase in roadwork and infrastructure improvements near his business, projects he believes may not have happened without the tournament.
“ (It’s) probably because people are going to be here who have never been here before, and the city is trying to leave a good impression,” Sellars said.
Other residents have also raised concerns about safety and congestion.
James Jones, 62, who was around for the 1996 Olympics, expects crime to be less of an issue than some fear, though recent violent incidents on MARTA have given him pause.
Still, many Atlantans see opportunity in the World Cup.
Agentry Reese, co-owner of Smoot Films production company in Downtown Atlanta, has followed soccer for over 20 years and is eager for the games to begin.
Though he doesn’t have tickets to a game yet, he plans to watch Spain throughout the tournament.
“They’re the best team in the world, every year,” he said.
Danielle Weisenfeld, a 26-year-old civil engineer whose Midtown firm has spent years planning traffic management strategies for the World Cup, sees the event as a chance to showcase Atlanta to the world.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for more Atlantans to get involved, and there are things outside of the matches too, like fan festivals,” said Weisenfeld. “That would be a really fun way to bring about community and rally people together who normally wouldn’t be together anyway.”
London Williams hopes the improvements made for the World Cup will endure long after the tournament leaves town, especially as the city will soon shift gears to host the 2028 Super Bowl.
If it takes a national event to push long-delayed projects across the finish line, he said, that’s a good thing.
“How long did they say they were going to fix the roadways?” Williams said. “Then as soon as FIFA said they were going to come, that’s when (Atlanta) really started to put (repairs) into plan.”
While some Atlantans are focused on what the World Cup will leave behind, Shabazz is focused on finally sharing the experience with her family.
In 2014, she went to the World Cup in Brazil with some friends as part of a bachelorette celebration.
Now, instead of boarding an international flight, she’ll make the much shorter trip from Peachtree City to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, renamed Atlanta Stadium for World Cup games, with her husband and 14-year-old twins.
For a woman whose parents brought a love of soccer from Liberia and Sierra Leone, the chance to experience the World Cup in her adopted hometown feels like a full-circle moment.
“I’ve been to the World Cup before,” Shabazz said. “Now I get to share that experience with my family here in Atlanta.”