{"id":814839,"date":"2026-07-20T20:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/814839\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T20:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T20:14:17","slug":"vancouver-bids-farewell-to-fifa-fan-festival-as-spain-wins-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/814839\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver bids farewell to FIFA Fan Festival as Spain wins the World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The energy at FIFA Fan Festival in Vancouver was unmatched as Spain defeated Argentina to take home the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>After neither team found the back of the net in the game\u2019s 90 minutes, the match went to extra time, and Spain finally broke through.<\/p>\n<p>The victory marks Spain\u2019s second World Cup title, following their 2010 win.<\/p>\n<p>But for Argentina supporters, there was disappointment as Lionel Messi fell short in the final FIFA match of his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think all these people came here to watch their idol, Messi, and it\u2019s really sad, but he worked really hard,\u201d one supporter told CityNews.<\/p>\n<p>And for some fans, this match felt like the passing of a torch.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the final, a viral photo of two players who would later share the field generated plenty of buzz: Lionel Messi bathing a young Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yes, those photos you\u2019ve seen are real.<\/p>\n<p>More than 18 years ago, a baby named Lamine Yamal and his mom Sheila met Lionel Messi at a UNICEF fundraising photoshoot.<\/p>\n<p>Today, their achievements on the pitch inspire millions. Off the pitch, both Messi and Lamine Yamal use their voices\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TSoUPDxia2\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/TSoUPDxia2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 UNICEF (@UNICEF) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/UNICEF\/status\/2077817597051982222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The image came from a charity calendar photoshoot after Yamal\u2019s mother won a raffle. Nineteen years later, the two met again on the pitch, this time as stars of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s match also marked the final live broadcast at the PNE Fan Fest, which opened last month.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/FIFA-Fan-Fest-PNE-Final-Game-9-1024x576.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" ratio=\"16x9\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThe energy at FIFA Fan Festival in Vancouver was unmatched as Spain defeated Argentina to take home the World Cup. (CityNews Image) <\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Vancouver as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=vancouver.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778189171_473_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"198\" height=\"63\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The energy at FIFA Fan Festival in Vancouver was unmatched as Spain defeated Argentina to take home the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-814839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814839","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=814839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}