<\/p>\n
England fans celebrate during a watch party for World Cup match between England and Croatia at The Londoner Pub in Dallas on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. England defeated Croatia 4-2.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not over yet, but by many accounts the first World Cup on North American soil in two decades has already been a massive success. The history-making goals<\/a> and captivating Cinderella storylines<\/a>. The packed bars and restaurants<\/a>. The infatuation with American cultural touchstones like ranch dressing and Buc-ee\u2019s<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n And, for many North Texans, an Andr\u00e9s Cantor-level<\/a> romantic boost: As of last month, when the tournament was still in its earlier stages, around three-quarters of unattached Dallas-area residents said the tournament made Dallas more fun to be single, and half said they had already gone on a date or hooked up with a World Cup visitor, according to survey results released earlier this month by DatingAdvice.com<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe numbers are very high,\u201d said Wendy Walsh, a psychology professor at California State University Channel Islands and dating expert at DatingAdvice.com. \u201cThey\u2019re actually quite surprising to me \u2014 that 50% of single people in your city went on a date or hooked up with a fan? That\u2019s like, pretty amazing.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n To come up with its figures, DatingAdvice.com surveyed 1,000 single adults, representing a broad demographic range, across the 11 American cities hosting World Cup games. In greater Dallas the company surveyed 93 people, according to data shared with The News, who mostly had positive World Cup-driven dating updates to report. While roughly half of the Dallas respondents said they\u2019d already gone on a date or hooked up with a visitor, an even greater share \u2014 65% \u2014 said their dating activity had increased either \u201ca little\u201d or \u201ca lot\u201d since the beginning of the tournament.<\/p>\n Twenty-eight percent said their activity had decreased, and 6% said it had stayed the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n The respondents were also overwhelmingly positive on Dallas\u2019 World Cup-heavy vibes, with 33% calling the city \u201cmuch more fun\u201d to be single in during the tournament and 43% labeling it \u201csomewhat more fun.\u201d Just one respondent said the tournament made the city worse because of extra crowds.\u00a0<\/p>\n DatingAdvice.com also asked respondents about which nationalities they might be most interested in dating. Dallas residents \u2014 who had a firsthand view of the passion of tens of thousands of flag-waving, drum-beating Argentinians<\/a> \u2014 chose that country most, with 16% of respondents reporting it as their first choice. Australians, winning 10% of Dallas respondents\u2019 vote, came in second, narrowly followed by Spaniards and Brazilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The World Cup dating bump for Dallas was largely on par with that experienced by other U.S. host cities: Among respondents across the 11 cities, 68% of respondents said their dating activity had increased during the tournament, 76% said it had made their city more fun to be single in and 44% said they had gone on at least one date or hooked up with a visitor. More than a third of all respondents also said they were most attracted to the possibility of \u201clearning about another culture,\u201d while 25% said they were drawn to a \u201cshared love of soccer\u201d and 21% cited a foreign accent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not all cities were feeling the love equally: Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston residents were most likely to say the World Cup had made their city more fun to be single in, while Kansas City and Houston residents were most likely to say their dating activity had increased.\u00a0<\/p>\n The broad romantic increase can partly be explained by dating psychology, Walsh said, especially for the countless Americans who may have already been romantically disillusioned. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now introducing a dating pool to a new dating pool, because there is a perception, for those who have been single for a long time and have been having trouble making connections or finding commitment-oriented relationships \u2014 there is a perception that the problem is the mating marketplace,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so it stands to reason that when, you know, fresh meat comes to town, people are going to jump on those apps, thinking that the answer to their love life problems is about finding this magical person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That dating scarcity theory is largely a myth, Walsh added \u2014 she noted that in psychological terms dating apps in fact have created \u201ca paradox of choice,\u201d where users often become frozen by too many, rather than too few, potential options \u2014 but the apps appear to have nonetheless experienced their own World Cup surge. Between June 11 and June 16, Tinder saw an average user spike of 47% in host cities, according to data cited by Fast Company<\/a>.<\/p>\n Match Group, the Dallas-based parent company of Tinder and numerous other dating apps, did not respond Monday to an inquiry from\u00a0The News\u00a0about its apps\u2019 usage. Its Austin-based rival Bumble also did not respond.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n