The World Cup is coming to the United States this summer for the first time in more than 30 years.
What does that mean for the Orange County Soccer Club? Plenty.
“Suddenly, there’s going to be a whole new generation of fans because of the World Cup,” OCSC President of Business Operations Dan Rutstein said. “The World Cup is expensive and it’s going to be hard to get tickets, so if they realize they want to watch soccer, the easiest way to do it is to come watch your local team. I think it’s going to be really interesting for us to see new people coming to the stadium. It’s a real growth opportunity for us.”
The club, which calls Championship Soccer Stadium in the Orange County Great Park home, recently announced that it would be expanding the stadium for the 2026 season.
Rutstein said Orange County Soccer Club sold out 10 of its 17 home matches last season. The club is adding to the 5,000-seat capacity by as much as 20%, he said, including a new VIP deck.
Members of the Orange County Soccer Club shake hands during the team’s annual gala at the Hilton Hotel in Costa Mesa on Feb. 5.
(Eric Licas)
The Great Park is on a list of suitable base camp venues for the World Cup, meaning a national team will likely be training there this summer.
World Cup prices have been a source of controversy. FIFA will reportedly be charging at least $250 for parking at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood for group play matches not featuring the United States.
By comparison, Rutstein said a season ticket for OCSC can be purchased for less than $200, leaving the club with an opportunity to gain new fans at a time when the sport’s popularity will be streaking.
“Walking into a world where everyone suddenly cares about soccer is a huge opportunity for us,” Rutstein said. “I think ’94 was big when they had the World Cup [in the U.S.], but it took a long time for the benefits to really be seen. This is the one where fans are going to enjoy the games, then find that there’s actually real soccer to follow. I’d be amazed if we don’t pick up hundreds of new fans through the end of the year.”
Though soccer fans nationwide will be dialed in when World Cup matches begin on June 11, Orange County Soccer Club is also helping to cultivate the next generation of stars closer to home.
The Orange County Soccer Club Foundation held its fourth annual gala at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa on Feb. 5. The event served as a fundraiser for the foundation’s free after-school soccer programs.
Lisa Keston, the executive director of the OCSC Foundation and the club’s vice president of community relations, said nearly 3,000 children have participated in the after-school soccer league over the last four years.
The league is currently offered exclusively through the 23 elementary schools in the Anaheim Elementary School District, though Keston said expansion to another district is planned.
The children and their families are provided the league free of charge.
“We provide coaches, referees, uniforms, equipment where needed,” Keston said. “And we help them come up with structure. Club soccer costs thousands of dollars a year for most families. We want to provide that kind of structure and experience at no cost to these families.”
The teams are co-ed. Each school’s 20-player roster must have at least eight girls, said Efrain Paniagua, Extended Learning Opportunities Program administrator for the Anaheim Elementary School District.
Each school has tryouts, and matches against the other schools started in December. It all leads up to the league finals day in April, when they will be held at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.
“It’s literally our World Cup,” Paniagua said. “We have about 1,000 people show up. We even have a halftime show, where we have our district mariachi showcase and a district spirit squad.”
Soccer is close to Paniagua’s heart. He has played since he was 5 and has fond memories of taking shots from soccer legends like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain in 1999, when he was a men’s soccer goalkeeper at Occidental College.
He sees the partnership with OCSC as valuable, noting that tryouts for the league are competitive and can draw as many as 70 children at a school site.
“Most of playing [soccer] in this country, in this state, is pay to play,” Paniagua said. “Do some of our kiddos in the league play club, or play on the weekends? Sure. But then, there’s also kids that just want to see if they like it … It’s the ability to come out and try something different.”
The OCSC Foundation gala honored longtime CBS sports broadcaster Jim Hill as well as Noel Burcelis, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Orange County. The program included a question-and-answer session with former U.S. national team player Joe-Max Moore, and OCSC head coach Danny Stone introduced this year’s squad.
James Keston purchased the club in 2016 and rebranded it to the Orange County Soccer Club the following year. In 2021, the club won the United Soccer League Championship title.
Last year, OCSC advanced to the Western Conference semifinals. The home season for 2026 begins on March 7, when Orange County hosts Las Vegas Lights FC.
James Keston, who said he has been to five World Cups, is excited the tournament is coming stateside this summer.
“It’s a year that we’ve been looking forward to for a lot of reasons,” he said. “Because the World Cup is coming, and then obviously we have the Olympics coming after that [in 2028], there’s going to be a lot of high-level soccer in our backyard … We are excited to be in the right sport at the right time.”