After years of planning and preparation, the opening of Toronto FIFA World Cup the match is now only 100 days away.
On June 12 at 3 p.m., tens of thousands of people will gather at Exhibition Place to watch Canada play its first game in an international soccer tournament.
Their opponent, however, is yet to be decided. The matches at the end of March will determine whether Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Northern Ireland will compete in that match.
By the end of June and the first week of July, Toronto will also host matches from countries such as Ghana, Germany, Croatia and Senegal.
The last city match will be the Round of 16 match on July 2.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government is providing $97 million to host the competition, said the provincial funds will help with health and safety costs.
“We’ve committed almost $100 million to make sure we get everyone from around the world for FIFA. It’s going to be amazing. A big part of it is going to be security, another part – when you have hundreds of thousands of visitors – healthcare. Hospitals will need support,” Ford said at an unrelated event on Monday.
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“Toronto, Ontario, is on the map. People from all over the world come here.”
About $100 million will also come from the federal government, while the City of Toronto will pay the remaining $170 million for the games.
The city will lead work with FIFA to prepare Toronto for the World Cup.
Staff expect traffic to be at least 10 percent worse on the central corridors during the competition, particularly around the final match, and are considering limiting parking options, as well as imposing road closures or building bans to keep people moving.
Toronto will also rely heavily on its streetcar network to get people to and from games, and the TTC is currently racing to get Bathurst Street ready to welcome thousands of soccer fans.
The Bathurst streetcar enters the area next to BMO Field and is the centerpiece of Toronto’s plan to move thousands of people. To do that, officials want to massively increase service along the line.
The route was designated as a RapidTO project last year, along with the Dufferin Street bus, to create red-painted priority lanes where transit can flow without interrupting cars. Traffic will also increase with trams running approximately every five minutes during the FIFA celebrations.
To accommodate this, the city is testing the electrical grid to provide overhead systems they will be able to handle the increased service.
The city is due to release its full traffic plan sometime in March and will host a free celebration Tuesday night to mark 100 days until the games begin.
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