Sacramento's World Cup Fever: How a 48-Team Tournament Brought the Whole City Together

The World Cup has arrived, and Sacramento is ready to party.

This expanded 2026 tournament—co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico—is already unlike anything soccer fans have experienced before. With 48 teams competing across 104 matches over 39 days, the stakes feel bigger, the schedule feels longer, and the energy in Sacramento feels electric. Two California stadiums are hosting matches: SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area, with the latter (temporarily renamed San Francisco Bay Area Stadium) set to host six games. But you don’t need a ticket to the big venues to feel the pulse of the tournament—as opening day proved, the soccer passion in Sacramento runs just as hot.

When Mexico kicked off against South Africa in Mexico City, fans packed Garden at the Line near Sacramento State to witness history. The scene was a snapshot of what makes this moment special: Josh Carrillo brought his family to cheer for his home country, carrying forward a tradition his father passed down to him. For Carrillo, soccer isn’t just about the sport—it’s about belonging to something bigger, about loyalty and teamwork that extends beyond the pitch. Karina Lopez, a middle school teacher and soccer coach, took the day off work despite temperatures already climbing above 90 degrees. As she put it, once the game starts, the heat doesn’t matter. Lopez sees soccer as a bridge, something that’s connected her with students she might never have otherwise known.

But perhaps the most poignant perspective came from Juan Solorio, who was born in Mexico and raised in the United States. He described an old familiar feeling: the bittersweet tension of belonging fully to neither place.“We feel like we go over there and we don’t belong. And then here sometimes we feel like outsiders,”he said. Yet watching Mexico play, he feels something that transcends geography—something unexplainable, something bigger than pride. That’s the magic of the World Cup, especially for immigrant communities and their children. It’s a space where identity, loyalty, and belonging aren’t complicated—they’re simply felt.

The tournament rolls on through the week. Canada takes on Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on Friday, while the United States faces Paraguay in Inglewood, California, on the same day. The first match at Levi’s Stadium happens Saturday: Qatar versus Switzerland. Each game is a chance for Sacramento’s diverse communities to gather, to celebrate, to feel that connection that Solorio describes. In a city that thrives on its multicultural identity, the World Cup isn’t just a sporting event—it’s a homecoming for people whose hearts belong in multiple places at once.