Long Beach is not on the list of official FIFA World Cup Fan Zones this summer, so instead, it\u2019s hosting its own celebration and is teaming up with Major League Soccer and the LA Galaxy to do it.<\/p>\n
The Galaxy and the Downtown Long Beach Alliance are teaming up with the city to host the LA Galaxy Soccer Celebration, a multi-week series of fan events, cultural activations and community programming tied to this summer\u2019s FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
From the group stage beginning June 11 through the final on July 19, officials say the celebration will stretch across downtown and into neighborhoods citywide. The goal is to create family-friendly fan zones, support small businesses and bring the excitement of the tournament to local parks and streets.<\/p>\n
Mayor Rex Richardson said the effort is designed to reflect the city\u2019s diversity while sharing the economic and cultural benefits across Long Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom major downtown programming to youth soccer clinics and park activations across our neighborhoods, we\u2019re bringing the global game to the coast in a way that uplifts local businesses, celebrates our diversity and creates shared moments for families and fans alike,\u201d Richardson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
However, the city\u2019s approach comes after some confusion earlier this year over whether Long Beach would host an official FIFA-sanctioned fan zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials with the Los Angeles World Cup Host Committee said the city withdrew its bid for an official fan zone in December, saying it would instead host a series of community events across multiple neighborhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n
City representatives have said the distributed, neighborhood-based approach will offer more flexibility and help \u201cmaximize community benefit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even without an official FIFA designation, local leaders say the goal is still to give fans a central place to celebrate the tournament.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe second-place team will receive $33 million and the third and fourth place teams will earn $29M and $27M respectively.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cThis summer, Southern California will feel like the center of the soccer universe, and we want fans to have a home for every moment,\u201d said LA Galaxy President and COO Tom Braun.<\/p>\n
After the group stage, the city plans to host soccer activations in parks across Long Beach during the knockout rounds, creating more neighborhood-based events for families and residents.<\/p>\n
Long Beach is also planning an open-streets event, presented by Metro, that will temporarily close select roads to cars and open them for walking, biking and community activities tied to the tournament.<\/p>\n
Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins encouraged fans to use public transit to attend events across the region during what she called a \u201conce-in-a-generation moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials have also launched a centralized event calendar to promote community-led soccer activities, inviting neighborhood groups, nonprofits and businesses to submit their own events.<\/p>\n
More details on marquee events and daily schedules are expected in the coming weeks. Residents and fans can sign up for updates through the city\u2019s summer soccer programming webpage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach is not on the list of official FIFA World Cup Fan Zones this summer, so instead,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[15392,11190,131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-179484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-2026-world-cup","9":"tag-fifa-world-cup","10":"tag-long-beach","11":"tag-long-beach-headlines","12":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}