Baja California Sur will build or upgrade 38 sports facilities across all five of its municipalities as part of the federal Mundial Social 2026 program, the state sports institute announced this month. The projects aim to leave a lasting community legacy from the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June across venues in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Noé Fiol Verduzco, director general of the Instituto Sudcaliforniano del Deporte (INSUDE), said 27 of the 38 projects will be entirely new soccer facilities. The remaining 11 are upgrades to existing installations. The new and improved spaces will include fut-5, fut-7, and fut-11 pitches as well as multi-sport courts.
Projects Span From Isla Natividad to El Pescadero
The 38 projects are spread across the municipalities of Mulegé, Loreto, Comondú, La Paz, and Los Cabos. Communities as remote as Isla Natividad, a small island off the Pacific coast of Mulegé, and as close to tourist centers as El Pescadero, located about 45 minutes south of La Paz on the road to Cabo San Lucas, are on the list.
The initiative is part of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s national Mundial Social strategy. The program’s stated goal is to ensure the 2026 World Cup leaves permanent infrastructure in Mexican neighborhoods, transforming vacant lots and worn-out fields into proper sports spaces. An earlier federal estimate from February mentioned 24 new fields for BCS; the updated count from INSUDE now stands at 38 total interventions.
State Committee Sworn In to Oversee Funds
INSUDE formally installed a State Committee for Community Projects (Comité Estatal de Proyectos Comunitarios) to manage the Mundial Social 2026 effort in Baja California Sur. Working groups have been launched in all five municipalities, with municipal sports departments participating alongside state officials.
The committee is tasked with overseeing the transparent allocation and use of funds. Citizen participation is expected to play a role in maintaining the new facilities, particularly synthetic turf fields and lighting systems, once construction is complete.
The World Cup opens on June 11, 2026, with matches hosted in 16 stadiums across North America. Mexico’s three host venues are Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, and Estadio BBVA in Monterrey. While no World Cup games will take place in Baja California Sur, the Mundial Social program is designed to spread the event’s benefits to communities far from the host cities.
The announcement was first reported by the Baja California Sur state government through its official website.