{"id":813321,"date":"2026-07-20T02:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813321\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T02:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T02:29:09","slug":"clear-skies-at-torontos-fan-fest-capped-off-a-world-cup-that-brought-canadians-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813321\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear skies at Toronto\u2019s Fan Fest capped off a World Cup that brought Canadians together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Fans celebrate after Spain’s win against Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, at Toronto’s Fan Festival on Sunday.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

In the end, it was glorious. The weather and the vibes. <\/p>\n

Canadians have been transfixed by the World Cup over the past month, with TV viewership hitting multiples of the last tournament in 2022, according to Bell Media. But mid-week much of Ontario and the eastern United States were hit with punishing temperatures, followed by wildfire smoke, followed by a threat<\/a> that the Trump administration could postpone the final match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and it nearly robbed people of their ecstasy. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Spain manages to win a World Cup during FIFA\u2019s cash-counting award show<\/a><\/p>\n

Early Sunday, the wildfire smoke that blanketed the Great Lakes region and beyond finally lifted in Toronto, just in time for the World Cup final, and the joy that swept over the city throughout its hosting run rushed back.<\/p>\n

Under a bluebird sky at the FIFA Fan Fest in Toronto, a sprawling three-screen outdoor venue adjacent to the stadium that hosted six World Cup matches for the first time, it ended in the best way possible. <\/p>\n

After all the pre-tournament worries about ticket prices, security and travel to the U.S., what cut through was joy. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives people community,\u201d said Saumyaa Dhawan, a long-time soccer fan who came to the Fan Fest from Waterloo, Ont.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Muskaan Malik, left, and Saumyaa Ehawan pause for a portrait at Toronto’s Fan Festival.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

She grew up watching the sport with her dad, so she\u2019s long been sold, but she\u2019s ecstatic about the effect the World Cup has had on people. It\u2019s visceral, she said.<\/p>\n

Sitting in the shade surrounded by food trucks before the match started, her friend Muskaan Malik, who lives in Toronto, said she wasn\u2019t a hardcore soccer fan before the tournament, but like so many others, she caught the bug. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t have third spaces,\u201d she explained. For many younger people these days, there\u2019s home, work, and not much else. The World Cup has been a reason to get together.<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s over, she said, \u201cit\u2019s going to feel a bit empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same sentiment was expressed multiple times. Shae Jakeman came to Fan Fest with his mom on Sunday sporting a Canada kit after his number one country, England, lost in the semi-finals. He\u2019s been at Fan Fest a dozen times, he calculated. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Shae Jakeman came to Fan Fest on Sunday sporting a Canada kit.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the highlight of the summer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The World Cup has also been, for some, a welcome distraction. The world remains incredibly chaotic, but a tournament in North American time zones has been an anchor for attention spans in Canada.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been entirely free of politics, though. <\/p>\n

After Folarin Balogun of the United States was given a red card, U.S. President Donald Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and asked him to review the suspension. Not long after, FIFA reversed it, making Mr. Balogun eligible to play against Belgium. <\/p>\n

It was the first time since 1962 that a player who had been sent off was able to appear in a game when they would have been suspended. (The U.S. ultimately lost the Belgium match.)<\/p>\n

And last week, as wildfire smoke from northwestern Ontario blew south into the U.S., President Trump played the same card he has so many times over the last year and a half, threatening tariffs on Canada, this time to hold the country \u201cresponsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Global News on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said the final would not be played if the smoke caused unsafe air conditions.<\/p>\n

No one seemed to even remember much of this had happened by Sunday, though Mr. Trump received some boos when he was shown on the field beside the FIFA president during the award ceremony.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino watch confetti fall at the conclusion of the World Cup championship on Sunday.Jacquelyn Martin\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

For all the joy, Canadians will have to consider how much money was spent to deliver it. Final figures are still being tallied, but the tournament appears to have delivered only a tourism blip for the matches in Toronto and Vancouver, The Globe and Mail recently reported.<\/p>\n

There also doesn\u2019t seem to be much of an economic boom.<\/p>\n

Spending at Toronto restaurants and bars<\/a> between June 12 and 26 climbed by only 3 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to digital payment processing company Moneris, though establishments did enjoy a 34-per-cent increase in spending by international visitors using foreign-issued cards.<\/p>\n

But the enjoyment has been very real, and not just because the Canadian men\u2019s team made it the round of 16 for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

Even though the final match was a one-sided dud, with Spain putting 12 shots on goal compared to zero for Argentina, there was something unifying about the past month. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fan Fest in Toronto featured a sprawling three-screen outdoor venue adjacent to the stadium that hosted six World Cup matches for the first time.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been \u201cso wholesome,\u201d said Pranav Khodhot from the Fan Fest watch party. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven on the train ride in,\u201d his friend Gajani Vetharaniyaseyon added, \u201cI was talking to a bunch of strangers.\u201d She\u2019s already invested as Manchester United fan, but she keeps hearing people ask the same thing as the tournament ends: \u201cHow can I be a soccer fan after the World Cup?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Fans celebrate after Spain’s win against Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[264632,49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-813321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-2026worldcupglobe","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813321","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=813321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}