What’s it like managing imaging services during the biggest sports event on the planet? Joshua Scott, MD, medical director of FIFA World Cup venue Los Angeles Stadium talked to AuntMinnie about it.
“It's been quite the endeavor, and the planning that's gone into this has been over the last couple of years,” Scott said.
The 2026 World Cup spans 16 host cities across three countries, each with its own venue medical officer. All 11 U.S. host cities are home to Major League Soccer clubs, including Los Angeles. Scott, an orthopedic specialist at Cedars-Sinai, also serves as primary care physician for the LA Galaxy.
For the World Cup, Scott’s imaging mandate extends beyond the stadium walls, however, with teams from around the world in training camps stretching from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Most imaging is handled by an on-call network of radiologists available around the clock near the venue, practice sites, and base camps, Scott said. For game-day imaging, SoFi has an x-ray suite available, although FIFA doesn’t require it, he noted.
In 2022, during the World Cup in Qatar, 177 athletes were imaged across the tournament, with imaging accounting for roughly half of all medical services. That frames the potential workload, and with six more games to play at SoFi, including a quarterfinal match, Scott noted a few challenges.
“There's 15 other members just like me, 15 other venue medical officers throughout the different locations. What we're good at is we know our area and we know how to take care of players that come into our town,” he said.
When asked who he's rooting for, Scott kept it simple: the United States.
