With the FIFA World Cup set to start next month, Toronto city hall and Nathan Phillip Square are decked out in FIFA related signage and colours on May 21, 2026.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Sun-drenched patios, flags flapping from car windows, a symphony of horns when a distant nation with a local diaspora wins a match: There might be no better place than Toronto to watch a World Cup.
The 2026 World Cup will see six games played in Canada’s biggest city. Lucky ticketholders will head to Toronto Stadium, which is the name FIFA has given BMO Field in Exhibition Place for the duration of the event.
But who needs to be in the stadium? With several games a day, the matches will be on every screen in the city from noon to near midnight.
The FIFA Fan Festival will attract up to 20,000 people a day to the grounds of Fort York, a 43-acre national historic site and former military garrison, as well as the nearby Bentway. The site will feature enormous screens, live music and food vendors. Tickets will be free but have to be secured through Ticketmaster ahead of time.
But perhaps the best way to enjoy a soccer day is to watch in a neighbourhood bar or restaurant. If the game is good and the crowd is engaged, you’ll be part of a 90-minute collective experience, a conversation that ranges from indignant outrage to reasoned analysis and even joyous celebration.
A chain of neighbourhoods that begins just near the stadium and extends north a few kilometres will be abuzz when the matches are on. Liberty Village attracts hip and relatively affluent young people in the area of King Street West and has an abundance of cafes, pubs and restaurants. The Brazen Head Irish pub is one of its busiest destinations. One of the city’s best smash burgers is at Burger Drops on Atlantic Ave.
Further north on Queen West, the Dog and Bear is an English pub with lots of screens that draws a knowledgeable crowd.
Ossington Avenue is one of the city’s coolest streets with interesting shops and a surfeit of restaurants. Man of Kent has good food and wry banter. Not far away on Dundas is Dock Ellis, a sports bar named for a baseball pitcher who threw a no-hitter on LSD.
The trick is to find an environment where enough people are so deeply invested that the fever is contagious. With half the city’s population born in another country, that’s not as difficult as it might seem.
Portugal’s matches will be a big event in Toronto’s west end, particularly on the stretch of Dundas Street known as Little Portugal. Koreatown, the area on Bloor St. near Christie Pits, should be buzzing for Korea’s matches. And St. Clair West is another likely destination for matches involving Latin American teams.
Café Diplomatico on College Street has long been considered one of the best places to watch a match, with a large patio and big screen that attracts a large, devoted crowd. But Italy’s failure to qualify means that a traditional hotspot, the Little Italy stretch of College Street, may not have the same level of engagement.
Of the eight foreign teams with games scheduled in Toronto, Germany has the largest following, with more than 107,000 residents claiming German origins on the last census. More than 12,000 identify with Croatia, roughly 7,500 each with Iraq and Ghana, about 3,200 with Canada’s first opponent, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and then a few hundred with Senegal, Panama and Ivory Coast.
There are plans for a fan festival and viewing parties for the three African nations at Downsview Park. The Ghanaian Canadian Association of Ontario is co-ordinating an event that will feature concerts, food and big screens for the games.
As the tournament goes on, the place to be will shift. Here’s to hoping Canada can shock the world.
How to get there: Take the TTC to King and Dufferin streets to find Liberty Village. From there a pedestrian overpass at Atlantic Avenue takes you to Toronto Stadium. For Fort York, hop on the 509 or 511 streetcar.
Where to stay: Hotel X Toronto is located close to both the Fort York Fan Festival area and Toronto Stadium. Rooms from $567 on most days; over $800 a night on game nights.
What to bring: Wear a soccer jersey from your favourite country or club – the more obscure the better – to spark a conversation about the global game.