Every restaurant, bar, taproom, winery, break room, parlor, or lobby will be tuned to FOX, FS1, Telemundo, Fox One and Peacock over the 39 days of the World Cup. Finding a place to watch will not be hard.
Picking one will be.
A version of this article appears in the World Cup edition of IV – available for purchase now and pickup at various Sounder at Heart events.
How to pick a place to watch the World Cup
Establish connections to a team. That could mean friends, family, personal history or there’s a player you like on it. Let's use Australia as an example.
Find where those people are gathering. Soccer is a social sport, best with others. In Australia's case it’s easy to find them. Their fans will likely flock to the Kangaroo & Kiwi (yes, New Zealanders too).
Throw yourself into the experience. Be a fan of that team for the day or the tournament. Those passions are part of why we love this game. Don't be a neutral on the days you use this system.
Find a new team to love the next day. Repeat as your budget allows.
If you don't want to throw yourself into the diehard fan experience there's many other options.
Here's an example
Let's call this person Dave. Let's say they used to know Arabic and they live in Renton.
- Working with the opener in the background (this will be common)
- Hang with friends for USMNT
- Watch Germany at Berliner Pub
- Head down to Pioneer Square for work/hanging with Egypt fans
- Watch England at Premier Meat Pies
- Watch Mexico at a work-industry event
- Party with Sounder at Heart at Fast Fashion for USA-Australia
That's an awesome week experiencing the game with longtime fans of a wide variety of teams, plus some of my greatest friends.
From Queen Anne to SoDo Along the Unity Loop
The heart of the host city celebrations runs along the Unity Loop from Victory Hall across from Waterfront Park to Seattle Center to Seattle Soccer House née Pacific Place — a mix of indoor and outdoor options with official viewing parties and events every day of the tournament. There's also the Sounders-Reign barge.
Each stop hosts activities from Matchday 1 through the final, though the specific events vary. All will host viewings for games played in Seattle. Highlighted by the local organizing committee, these four Fan Celebration venues will be filled with global visitors: Victory Hall (across the street from T-Mobile Park), Seattle Soccer House (the downtown mall) and the Armory (at Seattle Center) all have indoor screenings of the games. Waterfront Park and Seattle Center are both hosting musical events and soccer activities on non-gamedays, too.
Additional events will take place along the Loop, especially around Occidental Park and Pioneer Square, with their traditional importance to soccer in the city. Your favorite pre-match bars and restaurants should see a bump in traffic and activity — be patient. On June 20, Shaq is returning to his DJ-rap roots.
Spend at least a day on this Loop to enjoy the culture of our city and the nations Seattle is directly hosting. Murals, statues and paintings are scattered throughout the urban core celebrating us.
To make navigation even easier, King County is running a free Waterfront Shuttle that connects Seattle Center, Pioneer Square, the stadium district and the waterfront.
- Fast Fashion SoDo — Pre-game ahead of the USA v. Australia match with Sounder at Heart, Nos Audietis, Scuffed, Lobbing Scorchers and the rest of the best soccer staffs in America on June 19. Even if you aren’t going to the game, there will be a crowd there to enjoy Juneteenth and soccer. Scuffed will also be hosting a live postgame show.
In Pioneer Square on gamedays
Anyone who has attended a sporting event at Lumen Field knows that Pioneer Square is usually the heartbeat of pregame activity. That will still be the case for World Cup games, but possibly turned up to 11.
On each of the six match days, Pioneer Square will effectively turn into a massive pedestrian-only zone that stretches from Alaska Way S to the west, 2nd Avenue to the east, Yesler Way to the north and Edgar Martinez Drive to the south. No parking zones will start being enforced at 2 AM and traffic will be shut down from four hours before kickoff until the area has been safely cleared after the game.
Within that zone there will be all sorts of activities that include a beer garden, big screens, a soccer tournament and all sorts of pop-ups from local businesses.
Elsewhere in Seattle
- Project 9 — Sounder at Heart/Nos Audietis pre-match party on June 18 and a mixer during USA-Paraguay on June 12. We also collaborated with Project 9 on J Pod Match Day IPA. Enjoy that with us up in Roosevelt.
- The Doctor’s Office — Want a mellower hour or two during the chaos of World Cup month? Hit up Cooler Guild sponsor TDO for some of the best cocktails in the state. Make a reservation — it’s going to be booked.
- Seattle Parks and Recreation – The city will be hosting a bunch of indoor and outdoor watch parties at parks and community centers as part of its "Beautiful Game Series." That will also include two youth soccer jamborees. You can see more on this interactive map.
Around the Sound
Belgium is turning Renton into its home away from home during their World Cup training and the early phases of the tournament. Training at Longacres and staying on Lake Washington, the Belgian players will enjoy lake views, an airport next door, and maybe a dragon or two.
Renton doesn’t have much Belgian food around, but the city used the World Cup as an opportunity to reinvent its farmer’s market and downtown park into Legacy Square. Legacy Square will have a massive screen showing a featured game every matchday with a mini-pitch nearby. If you head into Renton for the World Cup, you can support Germany and Australia at Berliner Pub, and Mexico at Torrero’s, a multi-generational family-style Mexican restaurant representing the wave of Jalisco-hill-country cooking
Down in Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Pierce County and the city are putting together an official Fan Zone right next to the Emerald Queen Casino. Free parking is available at the Tacoma Dome, with a shuttle running regularly to get you around the freeway. If you only visit one place to support soccer in Tacoma, make it Doyle’s, which is showing all 104 games both indoors and out.
Further south, but still on the Sound, Olympia-Lacey are co-hosting at Port Plaza. Kids are free; adults are $10. Thurston County is celebrating Juneteenth and Pride with World Cup matches on screen for at least four days during the tournament.
Head up 101 to Bremerton for another round of parties near the water. The Quincy Square Fan Zone is a short walk from the ferries and will show at least eight matches on an outdoor screen. Events are free, with local food trucks and music supplementing the vibes.
In the North Sound, Everett’s Boxcar Park hosts at least four match screenings, again along the water. The four matches currently planned include the openers for both Mexico and the United States. If you don’t live near Boxcar Park, free shuttles run from Everett Station and the Everett Park & Ride.
Bellingham is taking a multi-pronged approach to its official Fan Zones. Kulshan Brewing Trackside is hosting six matches, while Commercial Street is shutting down for an official block party hosted by The Den and The Wild Buffalo for USA v. Australia on Juneteenth.
Sounder at Heart Supporters get access to Discord, with our open source guide to everywhere any single reader is going.
Around the State
The whole state is getting involved, with official Fan Zones well outside Seattle’s metro area.
- Vancouver, Washington’s Big Al’s has chosen all six Seattle games to screen, with other local breweries holding more intimate viewings as well.
- Sozo Sports Complex in Yakima will host four matches featuring Mexico and the US, with free entry.
- Pasco Sporting Complex in the Tri-Cities holds parties for four matches across two of their stadiums. Another free event with local food.
- Egypt is turning Spokane into their home, and just in time: Feteer’s is opening for fans to experience the flavors of the adopted nation. Gesa Pavilion Riverfront Park is the official Fan Zone, hosting several matches with an emphasis on the US, Mexico and The Pharaohs.
Celebrate Our Visitors
If you want to celebrate other teams playing at Lumen, check out Persepolis Grill Seattle in the U District, Farvahar Persian Café in Pike Place Market, or The Palace Kebab in Tacoma to discover the foods that fuel Iran.
Eight Arab teams qualified for the World Cup 2026. Expect fans from non-qualifying nations to mostly support Egypt — Salah is a legend. Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are rivals on the pitch but siblings in food. The same is true for Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Seattle-hosted Qatar. If you want to find Jordanians during the Cup, look for Levantine food or spots that bill themselves as Eastern Mediterranean.
Baked in Bosnia is a commercial kitchen that caters and delivers. They would be thrilled to help your Bosnia-Herzegovina party. They're also hosting a day at Victory Hall.
Classic soccer bars will obviously host England fans. Our nation’s soccer history is so strongly English, it’s what many of us know. The George & Dragon, The Dray, The Atlantic Crossing, Fuel and Three Lions in Redmond and Bellevue will center England and show you all 100 games each.
Expect sit-down Mexican restaurants to turn the TVs on, whether they’ve been in Seattle for 60 years or 6 months — the vibe in your favorite local spot will be electric.
Wherever you go in the first couple of weeks, you’ll find a TV where there wasn’t one before, tuned to the home nation or the nation that inspired the food — it could be Spain, or France, or Italy. Maybe Argentina, Portugal or the Netherlands gets some attention in a place that was normally formal.
If one thing is clear about the World Cup coming to Seattle, it’s that the whole state is participating, with your favorite restaurant, bar, brewery, winery, cidery, distillery, café, teahouse and coffeeshop ready to show everyone that Washington’s bluest skies and sea of green from Columbia to Tahoma celebrate the game we love.
It’s the world’s game. Celebrate it with the people who make the world great.
