Building the Team Behind the Team: What FIFA 2026 Can Teach Us About Organizational Resilience in Health Care

As the world prepares for the excitement, energy, and global attention surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup, many health care organizations across the United States are also preparing for something else: the uncertainty of operational strain.

Major international events like FIFA bring increased travel from all over the world, language barriers, mass gatherings, cyber threats, weather concerns, transportation disruptions, and surges in health care utilization. For hospitals and health systems, the event serves as a reminder that resilience is not built during a crisis. It is built long before kickoff.

In emergency management, success rarely comes down to one individual, one department, or one plan. It comes down to relationships, collaboration, and the ability to function as a unified team under pressure.

Just like a championship soccer (football) club, resilient health care organizations understand that every player has a role, communication matters, and preparation determines performance.

Resilience Is a Team Sport

Individual talent isn’t enough to propel a FIFA team to the world stage. Success comes from coordination between players, coaches, trainers, analysts, and support staff who have trained together long before the match begins. Health care preparedness is no different.

Organizational resilience depends on the strength of connections between departments, external partners, and leadership teams. Emergency management cannot operate in isolation. When these relationships are built before an incident occurs, organizations can move faster, communicate more effectively, and adapt more efficiently under stress.

Strong Teams Are Built Through Shared Experiences

FIFA teams do not meet for the first time on game day. They train together, practice communication, study scenarios, and build trust through repetition. Health care organizations should approach preparedness the same way.

Exercises, workshops, drills, and planning meetings are not simply compliance activities. They are opportunities to strengthen relationships and improve team coordination. Most importantly, exercises create familiarity. During a real-world incident, teams perform better when they already know how to work together.

Communication Wins Championships

One of the most visible aspects of an elite team is constant communication on the field. Players adjust in real time, call out hazards, shift strategy, and support one another throughout the match. Sound familiar?

Health care resilience requires the same level of communication. In emergency management, communication failures often create larger problems than the incident itself. Organizations that prioritize transparency, coordination, and information sharing are significantly more adaptable during crises.

Building a Culture of Collaboration

Organizational resilience is created through relationships, trust, and a culture of collaboration, not binders sitting on shelves.

Health care leaders can strengthen resilience by:

• Encouraging cross-department planning

• Including non-traditional partners in exercises

• Conducting multidisciplinary after-action reviews with actionable improvements

• Sharing lessons learned across the organization

• Empowering staff to participate in preparedness activities

• Building regional partnerships before disasters occur

FIFA 2026 offers health care organizations an opportunity to think beyond the event itself and evaluate how well their teams function together under pressure.

Final Whistle: Preparedness Is About People

At its core, emergency management is about people. Plans, technology, and resources all matter. But during any crisis, relationships become the foundation of resilience.

Just as the world’s best soccer teams rely on preparation, trust, communication, and teamwork, health care organizations must invest in building strong internal and external partnerships long before disaster strikes. Because when the pressure rises, resilient organizations rely on teamwork that comes from the connections they have already built. And, in health care emergency management, that teamwork can make all the difference.

Author: Charles “CJ” Sabo, MPH, CHEP, EMT-B, Manager