{"id":760620,"date":"2026-06-26T02:26:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760620\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T02:26:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:26:48","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-live-sites-in-australia-where-to-watch-the-matches-in-public-fan-zones-socceroos-fan-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760620\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026 live sites in Australia: Where to watch the matches in public, fan zones; Socceroos fan reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Socceroos<\/a> have just kicked off in their FIFA World Cup clash against Paraguay<\/a> and thousands of Aussie hopefuls have been turned away from one fan site.<\/p>\n

Hoards of fans had been gathering outside Melbourne\u2019s Federation Square since early this morning, eager for the gates to open at 10.30 for the midday kick-off.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Socceroos fans hydrating ahead of the Paraguay clash.\u00a0Today<\/p>\n

But with the venue already at capacity before kick-off even began, police and security are ushering large crowds down to second viewing location AAMI Park instead.<\/p>\n

Federation Square can safely host around 7000 fans, but a lot more were eager to get a spot in front of the large screens inside, to cheer their team to victory.<\/p>\n

If the Socceroos win or draw they guarantee progression into the last-32 and will be set for a knockout clash in Dallas at 4am AEST on Saturday against the runner-up in Group G, which is likely to be Iran or Belgium.<\/p>\n

Thousands of fans are congregating at sites both locally and around the world, to cheer their team to victory.<\/p>\n

For those cheering the Socceroos on locally, fan sites have been established across the country.<\/p>\n

In NSW<\/a> you can cheer them on at Tumbalong Park, Cathy Freeman Park, Parramatta Square, Blacktown Football Park, Cirillo Reserve, Dyin Ngurra (Merrylands Civic Square) and North Bondi Park.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fans arrived at Federation Square in Melbourne nice and early.\u00a0Justin McManus<\/p>\n

In Victoria<\/a>, there are fan sites at Federation Square, AAMI Park, Marvel Stadium and Broadmeadows Town Hall car park.<\/p>\n

In Queensland<\/a>, you can don your green and gold at South Bank, while in South Australia, Adelaide\u2019s The Drive is the place to be.<\/p>\n

In Western Australia<\/a>, fans are gathering at Northbridge Piazza and in the Top End, Darwin<\/a> Football Stadium is hosting a viewing party, while fans in the capital can head to University of Canberra Refectory and Garema Place and in Tasmania, Odeon is the official local fan site.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Socceroos fans gather at the fan site at Sydney’s Tumbalong Park ahead of their FIFA World Cup match against Paraguay.\u00a0Today<\/p>\n

Today foreign correspondent, Lauren Tomasi was on the ground in Santa Clara, California, where a hoard of Aussies in green and gold were preparing to march their way to the San Francisco<\/a> Bay Area Stadium, where their team will hopefully knock out Paraguay\u2019s La Albirroja and secure a placement in the next round.<\/p>\n

However, locally hundreds of Socceroos fans were also lined up to the gates at Federation Square in Melbourne<\/a> this morning, hours before the midday (local time) kick-off.<\/p>\n

\"Socceroos<\/p>\n

Socceroos fans gather at Sydney’s Darling Harbour to secure a spot ahead of kick-off.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

A strong security presence has remained at the site to ensure fans behave themselves regardless of the outcome from today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Today cameras captured footage of full drink bottles being thrown among the restless fans, with concerns for the safety of those at the centre of the burgeoning crowd.<\/p>\n

The 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> has already been a raging success so far, with crowd numbers of 3.6 million surpassing the previous record set in 1994.<\/p>\n

The record was broken during yesterday\u2019s match between Ecuador and Germany<\/a>, which was played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, before a crowd of 80,663 spectators.<\/p>\n

The number of attendees at that game boosted the total attendance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches to 3,605,357, setting a new all-time record, according to FIFA officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is also on track to reach the highest stadium occupancy rate in its history, currently sitting at 99.7 per cent.<\/p>\n

An estimated 15,500 Australians have travelled overseas to celebrate the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the actual stadium presence predicted to be even higher.<\/p>\n

At the start of the tournament, Australia<\/a> ranked in the top 10 nations globally for ticket purchases, joining host countries US<\/a>, Canada<\/a> and Mexico<\/a>, as well as other major footballing nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Socceroos have just kicked off in their FIFA World Cup clash against Paraguay and thousands of Aussie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-760620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}