In what seemed to be a far distant event, the World Cup is arriving in Boston less than half a year. There’ll be seven games at Gillette Stadium, including a Quarter Final, Round of 32 game, and five group stage games. Some of the world’s best soccer nations will be here, in Boston, including the likes of France, England, and Norway.
“I mean, it’s a momentous generational moment,” expressed Caroline Foscato, the founder of Soccer Unity Project. “Like, it’s incredible to think about having the world’s sport be here and what that can do to highlight and uplight the city, what that can do to bring together our global city of ethnicities and cultures.”
Bringing the biggest sport to the city of champions also has helped benefit local non-profit organizations, like the Soccer Unity Project.
“We really lean into the sport for our social change and support for good pieces… creating the next leaders through play and coaching and how we can really deepen that impact, we want to take young people to places that they wouldn’t know that they could go.”
On the other hand, the World Cup in Boston also brings changes to social areas like JJ Foley’s, a restaurant and bar popular in Boston’s South End.
“Foley’s restaurant has been a family run business, and were close with the community in the South End,” said the Foley’s manager. There’s a lotta southies come to the pub when there are Celtics or Bruins games. Foley’s usually has a lotta Irish Americans. Recently we’ve seen more diverse groups come into the restaurant and bar.”
With the influx of people about to come into Boston, the bar and restaurant is ready to host watch parties, with some changes coming into play.
“So for next summer we want to be able to host events with matches daily, we’re working on a plan that can bring more chairs which can bring more people into the pub, but also having more staff so we can accommodate the increased number of people.”
With the world’s biggest stage coming to Boston, the city prepares to shape its infrastructure and resources to make this a landmark defining 2026 summer, but reels to see the benefits for its community’s long term future.
