![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/y7ss7a9ngtvlx55a.jpg\")
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PHILADELPHIA – The energy on South Street surged Friday as soccer fans packed into Brauhaus Schmitz for the World Cup<\/a> draw, a moment signaling the start of what could be one of Philadelphia<\/a>\u2019s biggest summers ever.<\/p>\n 2026 FIFA World Cup Final Draw <\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Germany \u2014 a four-time World Cup champion \u2014 was placed atop Group E, setting off cheers inside the German-themed beer hall. The group also includes Cura\u00e7ao, C\u00f4te D\u2019Ivoire and Ecuador. Germany\u2019s path includes potential matches in Philadelphia on June 14 against Cura\u00e7ao and June 25 against Ecuador, though final venue assignments will not be confirmed until Saturday at noon.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m so excited, I\u2019m so happy. This city loves sports,” said fan Ntate Mofokeng.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It\u2019s better than I could have expected,” added Stefan Sehne. “Good chance to come to Philadelphia.”<\/p>\n RELATED: 2026 FIFA World Cup draw recap and photos<\/a><\/p>\n Across the draw, the United States was placed in Group D with Australia, Paraguay and the winner of Playoff C \u2014 Romania, Turkey, Slovakia or Kosovo.<\/p>\n Forty-two nations have already secured automatic bids to the expanded 48-team tournament, with six more to be determined through UEFA and intercontinental playoffs this spring.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s draw, held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.<\/a>, featured heads of state from the host nations \u2014 U.S. President Donald J. Trump<\/a>, Mexico\u2019s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney \u2014 as the 104-match tournament began to take shape. The event was broadcast live on FOX and FIFA\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n Local perspective:<\/p>\n Philadelphia is one of 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played across the United States, Mexico and Canada. Lincoln Financial Field will host six matches, including a highly anticipated Round of 16 game on July 4 \u2014 the same day the U.S. marks the 250th anniversary<\/a> of its Declaration of Independence, signed just blocks away.<\/p>\n More than 400,000 visitors are expected to travel to Philadelphia for the tournament, which the host committee estimates will generate a $770 million economic impact and $51 million in tax revenue for Pennsylvania<\/a>. The World Cup is also expected to create thousands of jobs across the region.<\/p>\n SUGGESTED: Which is the \u2018group of death\u2019 in the FIFA World Cup 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n Businesses are already gearing up. Brauhaus Schmitz \u2014 which has hosted World Cup and soccer watch parties for 16 years \u2014 expects record crowds.<\/p>\n “A typical slow summer could turn into three months of business in one month,” said owner Doug Hager. “It\u2019s huge\u2026 that will probably finally dust off the final remnants of the COVID hangover.”<\/p>\n By the numbers:<\/p>\n Beer sales are also projected to spike. Bitburger, the largest imported German beer in the U.S., is expecting a surge.<\/p>\n “Just in Philadelphia alone, we\u2019re expecting a 20% increase in that two-month period and leading up to the games,” said Scott Baver of Bitburger Brewery Group. “It\u2019s definitely a game changer, especially in the host cities.”<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n As fans await Saturday\u2019s announcement of which teams will play in Philadelphia \u2014 and at what times \u2014 one thing is already certain: the city is preparing for a global spotlight unlike anything in its sports history.<\/p>\n The 2026 World Cup kicks off June 11 on FOX.<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this story is from FIFA, Brauhaus Schmitz and Bitburger Brewery Group<\/p>\n Philadelphia<\/a>FIFA World Cup<\/a>Sports<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA – The energy on South Street surged Friday as soccer fans packed into Brauhaus Schmitz for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[139,539,69,71,70,726,593,2236],"class_list":{"0":"post-53456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","12":"tag-philadelphia-news","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Good](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/xs488wle99cwtlwi.jpg\")
Philly hopes for World Cup business boom <\/p>\n