How FIFA kept the FIFA World Cup 2026™ workforce connected with Slack

The FIFA World Cup 2026™ was the biggest event yet

The FIFA World Cup 2026™ was bigger — and more complex — than anything the organization had ever attempted before. The event spanned 104 matches across 16 host cities in three countries. Supporting billions of fans required coordinating 65,000 volunteers and staff across 16 venues and local organizing teams, making fast, reliable communication essential to tournament operations.

Volunteer scheduling and onboarding happened in a third-party volunteer management app, but day-to-day coordination relied on Microsoft Teams, email, spreadsheets, and other messaging tools. The same challenges extended to the FIFA World Cup 2026™ global Rewards & Recognition team, which coordinated recognition for tournament staff, volunteers, referees, players, and fans throughout the event.

Without a secure, centralized workspace, critical operational updates were difficult to track, increasing the risk of last-minute scrambles.

One place for coordination

To keep FIFA World Cup 2026™ logistics on track, FIFA deployed Slack for their Rewards & Recognition team, giving coordinators a single location to manage one of the tournament's most meaningful workforce programs.

“We used to use a lot of spreadsheets,” said Nathalie Grace, Senior Manager of Workforce. “Having a tool that lets us collaborate globally, in real time, is a complete game-changer. Our volunteers can access Salesforce records, FIFA policies, and documents all in one place.”

Throughout the tournament, coordinators used Slack to streamline prize distribution across three countries, ensuring the right reward reached the right stadium, the right match, and the right recipient — whether they were recognizing a fan, referee, player, volunteer, or FIFA employee.

When reward delivery plans changed, Slack helped coordinators adjust and respond quickly. "Using Slack, we've been able to monitor inventory levels at each of our 16 venues,” said Grace. “We can confirm how and when items are distributed to winners."

A Slack-powered workforce

For the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027™, the company plans to expand Slack beyond Rewards & Recognition, establishing it as the system of engagement for all workforce operations. “FIFA’s workforce is thousands of people,” Grace said. “We can’t have them communicating through emails. That's where Slack is going to be the best of the best.”

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ tournament is expected to involve 6,000 volunteers across host country Brazil, and like the 2026 event, every shift, stadium assignment, and operational update will be critical to delivering a world-class experience. 

Imagine a volunteer arriving for their shift. Instead of checking multiple apps or waiting for an email, FIFA envisions event schedules, stadium assignments, and operational updates all delivered through Slack. Managers will be able to send real-time updates to a single volunteer or an entire shift — for example, redirecting staff to a different entrance or reassigning volunteers when coverage needs change. 

To keep FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ volunteers informed, the organization plans to deploy headless AI agents within Slack that can answer questions and provide operational guidance before and during every shift.

Technology behind teamwork

Rewards & Recognition coordinators use Enterprise Search from within Slack to find Salesforce records from Sales Cloud and Service Cloud — for example, pulling up a stadium's shift roster to check who is staffed that day. Slack connects to Salesforce through a native connector, so CRM records are searchable without middleware, custom APIs, or switching applications. The same prebuilt connectors bring FIFA's cloud-based knowledge articles and operational documents into Enterprise Search.

When coordinators need more than a search result, Slackbot reasons across CRM records, documents, and Slack conversations to answer questions, help finalize distribution plans, and even draft new messages for human review.

As the match unfolds, Slack remains the team's command center. If a coordinator notices an inventory mismatch or another operational issue, they can forward the relevant conversation to a dedicated manager channel with a single click and add any additional context. Managers receive an alert containing the full Slack conversation history, supporting documents, and Salesforce records needed to make decisions in real time. When a prize is delivered, teams can share the good news in Slack, keeping everyone informed and connected.

When work passes between shifts and time zones, Slackbot reads conversation history, CRM records, and open threads to generate structured handoff summaries. Incoming teams can ask follow-up questions in natural language and begin the next match with the latest operational context already at hand.

From one team to 6,000 volunteers

Slack went live just six weeks before the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, giving the Rewards & Recognition team a secure, centralized workspace before the tournament began. “We have 16 cities, and about 5,000 people working in each to support the 80,000 fans in every stadium,” explained Nacho Fresco, Director of Technology. “Keeping communication and information in Slack has made coordination much easier.”

For the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027™, FIFA plans to expand that model from a single workforce program to all 6,000 volunteers. Slack is expected to support recruitment, scheduling, operational communications, and workforce management.

FIFA is also exploring bringing additional data sources into Slack, including volunteer data from their volunteer management app. That would allow managers to coordinate shifts, stadium assignments, and workforce updates from one workspace, while Slackbot answers schedule-specific questions, delivers pre-shift briefings, and surfaces operational alerts before issues disrupt the event.