{"id":349944,"date":"2026-06-06T22:16:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349944\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T22:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:16:40","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-excitement-in-the-south-bay-kicks-off-at-santa-clara-night-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349944\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026 excitement in the South Bay kicks off at Santa Clara night market"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) — With the FIFA World Cup just days away, soccer fans were already getting into the spirit at Santa Clara’s FIFA-themed night market.<\/p>\n

The special World Cup-themed event started Friday and ends Saturday night in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n

The free event features food and thrift vendors, live entertainment, cultural performances and soccer-themed activities and games hosted by the San Jose Earthquakes and Bay FC.<\/p>\n

Families, soccer fans and visitors filled the market Friday evening, testing their skills at soccer challenges, shopping for jerseys and counting down to the start of the tournament.<\/p>\n

“We have jerseys from all over the world,” said vendor Dre Lucero with Pop Up San Jose. “Soccer jerseys are big sellers for the World Cup.”<\/p>\n

WORLD CUP 2026: Everything to know about games at Levi’s Stadium, Bay Area watch parties and more<\/a><\/p>\n

The event is one of several World Cup-themed celebrations taking place across the South Bay ahead of the Bay Area’s first match at Levi’s Stadium on June 13.<\/p>\n

For some fans, the excitement started in downtown San Jose, where a giant soccer ball installation outside San Pedro Square Market has become a popular destination for photos and social media posts.<\/p>\n

“It’s better than I imagined,” said one visitor after seeing the display in person.<\/p>\n

Fans proudly represented countries from around the world while discussing which teams they’ll be cheering for during the tournament.<\/p>\n

“The day U.S. is playing, we’re cheering U.S., or the day Brazil is playing, the same happens with Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador,” said soccer fan Claudette Bautista.<\/p>\n

MORE: Santa Clara preps for activity surge as countdown underway for FIFA World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bay Area will host six FIFA World Cup matches at Levi’s Stadium this summer, bringing fans from around the globe to Santa Clara.<\/p>\n

While some attendees said they are still hoping to score tickets to the games, others are planning to take part in watch parties and community events happening throughout the region.<\/p>\n

Organizers say creating free events like the night market gives residents a chance to be part of the World Cup experience, even if they don’t attend a match in person.<\/p>\n

“We know not everybody can afford a ticket to go to one of these matches, so we wanted to bring some of that excitement to the community,” said Santa Clara spokesperson Janine De La Vega.<\/p>\n

For those looking to get a jump on World Cup festivities, Saturday’s Night Market offers one more chance to enjoy the food, music and soccer-themed activities before the Bay Area’s World Cup countdown enters its final week.<\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) — With the FIFA World Cup just days away, soccer fans were already getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[143203,88,90,89,294],"class_list":["post-349944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-143203","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-timely"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349944","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=349944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}