Building a legacy beyond the final whistle

By Robert C. Jones Jr. [email protected] 06-14-2026

When the world arrives in Miami for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the spotlight will shine on a packed Hard Rock Stadium, international stars, and one of the largest sporting events ever held in North America.

But for University of Miami alumna Jennifer Roche, the tournament's success won't be measured solely by attendance figures or television ratings. Instead, she is focused on what remains after the final whistle.

As director of community and legacy for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee, Roche is responsible for ensuring that the tournament leaves a meaningful and lasting impact on South Florida's communities. Her goal: Use the world's most popular sport as a catalyst for social change.

"How are we using the global game?" asked Roche, who earned a master's degree from the School of Education and Human Development's Sport Administration program in 2016. "How are we using this mega event to create social change and make sure we're leaving something behind?"

Roche has asked such challenging questions for much of her career and endeavored to make sure they didn't go unanswered.

Growing up in Washington, D.C., Roche wasn't the outspoken leader she is today. "I was extremely shy," she recalled. "Sports gave me my confidence."

As a child, she competed in gymnastics and track and field, discovering a sense of belonging and self-assurance through athletics. While her parents worked as water resource engineers, Roche found herself drawn to the energy and community of sports.

She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied exercise and sports science and spent four years as a cheerleader. Initially, she envisioned a career in athletic training or physical therapy. But as graduation approached, she realized her interests extended beyond the field and into the management and administration of sports.

Her uncle was an important influence in her life, as his career with the international governing body for track and field in Monaco exposed Roche to the global side of sports. "I saw all the different things he was able to do," she said. "And that's when I knew I wanted to work for a governing body."

In 2015, Roche moved to Miami to pursue a graduate degree in sport administration at the University, immersing herself in the region's diverse sports landscape, taking internships with multiple organizations, and learning firsthand how the industry operated.

She worked with the University athletic department's Hurricane Club, gained experience at major sporting events, and completed her final graduate internship with Special Olympics Florida.

"The experience proved transformative," Roche said.

After graduating in 2016, she joined Special Olympics Florida full time and eventually became senior manager of sports training and competition. In that role, she oversaw programs serving more than 10,000 athletes throughout South Florida. "The work," she said, "helped reinforce a lesson that was central to my career-that sports can be a powerful tool for inclusion, empowerment, and opportunity."

In 2020, Roche joined CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football that serves as the official governing body of soccer in the region and is one of FIFA's six continental confederations.

Over four years, she traveled extensively throughout CONCACAF's 41 member sites, helping manage legacy projects connected to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The initiatives focused on education, life skills, and community development through soccer.

"There was no one-size-fits-all approach," Roche said. "You had the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and then you had small island nations with completely different challenges and opportunities. The work taught me how to listen, adapt, and design programs that reflected local needs rather than imposing a universal solution."

In November 2024, Roche joined the FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee. "For someone who had built a career in Miami and spent years preparing for a role in global sports, it felt like a full-circle moment," she said. "This is honestly a dream come true, my North Star."

As part of her responsibilities with the Miami Host Committee, Roche oversees community and legacy initiatives, which are built around three pillars: access to soccer, sustainability, and community engagement.

Working alongside Miami-Dade County commissioners, schools, nonprofits, and other organizations, she has helped organize nearly 20 so-called "One Game, One Future" clinics across the region, making soccer accessible to youngsters who might otherwise have never had the opportunity to play the sport.

Children between the ages of 7 and 16 participate in soccer instruction while coaches receive training on topics that extend far beyond the game itself, including mental health, violence prevention, confidence building, nutrition, and empowering girls and young women. And the clinics reflect the host committee's inclusive mission, taking place in Little Havana, Little Haiti, Miami Gardens, and other neighborhoods throughout the county.

At every clinic, community partners provide benefits that extend beyond soccer, offering services such as free health screenings, including blood pressure, glucose, and depression assessments for children, coaches, and families.

Goodwill Industries serves as the host committee's logistics and shipping partner-a choice Roche says was intentional because of the organization's commitment to employing people with disabilities.

The host committee is also investing in longer-term legacy projects-among them, an expansion of blind soccer programming with the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, support for Little Haiti FC's youth development initiatives, and plans for a new community soccer field in Miami Gardens that will remain free and accessible after the tournament concludes.

"My goal is to have a constant stream of community activity and opportunities for families, kids, coaches, and everyone to be involved in the lead-up to the World Cup," Roche said. "The tournament may last only a few weeks. Its legacy will endure for decades."

She is one of several students and graduates of the Sport Administration program who are playing critical roles with FIFA.

"The beauty of our program is the depth of connections we have within the sports industry," said Paul Resnick, senior lecturer and internship director for the program. "Knowing several years out that the FIFA World Cup would be coming to the Americas, we set out to make sure we established a wide net of contacts within the FIFA offices. And when Miami was awarded as a site for the games, our faculty was in touch with those on the executive team. This helped to provide so many of the internships and volunteer positions for our students and alumni."

Windy Dees, graduate program director for the Sport Administration program, which falls under the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, said students are trained in all facets of sports business. "We place a major emphasis on the global nature of the sport industry," she said. "The number of current students and alums we have contributing to this mega event speaks to the hard work and preparation they put in throughout the program to train for these professional opportunities."

Michael Giannetta, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport Administration, serves as parking and permitting coordinator for FIFA World Cup. "Working to develop parking permits across 16 stadiums in three countries has been a unique challenge, but we're prepared for the tournament," he said.

Resnick called Roche "a shining example of how to keep working up the ranks of this industry. I know for a fact, this is just another step in her successful future in the sports world."