The countdown to the World Cup is building across North Texas, and Fort Worth is already embracing the excitement.<\/p>\n
Sundance Square unveiled a new soccer-themed art installation featuring more than two dozen hand-painted soccer balls created by local artists. The display is part of the downtown district\u2019s effort to kick off a \u201csummer of soccer\u201d ahead of the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. I can\u2019t wait,\u201d one visitor said.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth resident and eighth grader Cadence Minner said each piece stands out in its own way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re really unique \u2014 each and every one,\u201d Minner said.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth resident Erika Maldonado said she came downtown specifically to see the display before crowds arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the talent! I came down here just to look at them before everybody else does,\u201d Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
Eleven-year-old Lorenzo Otero said one design quickly became his favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the soccer ball in the middle that\u2019s painted like the Fort Worth city,\u201d Otero said.<\/p>\n
Sundance Square has also been sharing behind-the-scenes videos on Instagram showing artists creating the soccer balls as the area prepares to become a gathering place for fans.<\/p>\n
When the tournament begins, all 104 World Cup matches will be shown on giant screens in Sundance Square.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth resident Harmann Chhabra said he is looking forward to the energy fans will bring to downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I’m just excited for the atmosphere and how loud it’s going to get and how crazy it’s gonna get in that area in a good way, in a healthy way,\u201d Chhabra said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, fans are still hoping to secure tickets to one of the nine matches set to be played in Arlington, where workers are now installing giant World Cup banners outside the stadium.<\/p>\n
Raj Agrawal, who is visiting North Texas for the summer, said he is most excited about the global atmosphere the tournament will bring.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust coming to a different culture, people coming from different countries bringing their culture, bringing their traditions, all together I think is the biggest thing I’m looking forward to,\u201d Agrawal said.<\/p>\n
Another fan said the tournament is drawing in even casual viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really into soccer but I\u2019m gonna watch it to see who wins,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fort Worth resident Thomas Sanford has even started a TikTok account aimed at helping Texans learn more about soccer ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe open and talk to people. Soccer is a beautiful game and it\u2019s very connective towards people who don\u2019t know anything about it, and people who love it,\u201d Sanford said.<\/p>\n
As anticipation continues to grow, communities across North Texas are preparing to welcome soccer fans from around the world.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The countdown to the World Cup is building across North Texas, and Fort Worth is already embracing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[21898,49,48,3274,164206,561,82,13009],"class_list":["post-690061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fifa","tag-fort-worth","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}