The countdown has begun for the FIFA World Cup coming to Silicon Valley next year.
Representatives from the Bay Area Host Committee and Santa Clara celebrated the one-year countdown to the World Cup Wednesday with speeches and a youth soccer clinic led by the San Jose Earthquakes. Levi’s Stadium will host six games in 2026, beginning June 13. City officials dedicated a plaque to commemorate the games and unveiled a one-year timer, which will be moved around the community and presented at various city events.
“Let’s make sure that when the world looks at Santa Clara, they’re not just seeing a host city, but a community that never stopped believing in its children’s future,” Mayor Lisa Gillmor said.
About 160 children from Santa Clara youth sports groups participated in the soccer clinic after the commemoration ceremony, according to Bay Area Host Committee CEO Zaileen Janmohamed.
She said the host committee is working on events to include Santa Clara and Bay Area residents in the World Cup festivities, such as more clinics and watch parties. She said the World Cup has historically had seismic impacts on the nation’s soccer communities, as the 1994 World Cup helped create Major League Soccer.
“Today is a really good example of what you can expect,” Janmohamed told San José Spotlight. “We want to make sure that we have … a way for people in the community to feel like they’re part of the World Cup, even if they’re not coming to a game. That’s what you should start to see.”
Santa Clara is gearing up for a busy 2026, as Levi’s Stadium will host Super Bowl 60 Feb. 8, only a few months before the World Cup matches in June, both facilitated by the Bay Area Host Committee. Preparations are underway for both events and Janmohamed said the largest lift — a roughly $25 million renovation of Levi’s Stadium’s field to fit FIFA requirements — is nearly complete.
“We’ve been in this planning phase, ‘what if we did it this way,'” Janmohamed said. “We’re moving from that ‘what if’ to a ‘let’s do this.'”
Santa Clara officials have been looking for ways to get residents involved and see more local economic benefits from these mega sporting events. When Santa Clara hosted Super Bowl 50 in 2016, the Bay Area collectively saw a $240 million boost, but only about 7% of that revenue went to Santa Clara.
Councilmember Karen Hardy said she wants to work with the host committee and FIFA to bring more benefits into the city. She suggested letting Santa Clara youths have a moment on the field during the games or letting residents purchase discounted tickets, but both are up in the air. The city is working on hosting a concert at Santa Clara University in the months between Super Bowl 60 and the World Cup games, to give residents more opportunities to celebrate.
“We’re working on getting that funding and doing that for the community … as a present to our residents,” Hardy told San José Spotlight.
Engaging the community will be key in this year’s run up to the events. Aly Wagner, founder of the local National Women’s Soccer League team Bay FC, said engaging with the larger soccer community as a youth during the 1994 World Cup inspired her to pursue the game. Wagner won two Olympic gold medals and two FIFA World Cup bronze medals during her 20 years playing internationally.
Wagner said she hopes the upcoming World Cup games similarly inspire Silicon Valley’s youngest generations of soccer players. FIFA is expected to announce the World Cup’s group stage teams on Dec. 5, which includes all teams in the various groups and who will play at which stadiums. She said it’ll be easier to rally the community around the games once it’s known who will play at Levi’s Stadium.
“Touching it and feeling it and being a part of it is very different from watching it on a broadcast,” Wagner told San José Spotlight. “We’ve always been a hotbed for talent in soccer, now we have an opportunity to grow that because more people are going to be exposed and fall in love with this game.”
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
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