91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Sports

2026 FIFA World Cup countdown clock unveiled in Philadelphia

By
Alexandra Simon
Digital Content Producer
Alexandra Simon is a digital content producer at CBS Philadelphia. Alex started her career at CBS21 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before joining KARE 11 News in Minneapolis, where she covered breaking news, features and often cold weather.
Read Full Bio
Alexandra Simon,
Adam Fox,
Nikki DeMentri
Nikki DeMentri
Nikki DeMentri is a general assignment reporter with CBS Philadelphia. The Central New Jersey native is thrilled she is sharing the stories of where she grew up.
Read Full Bio
Nikki DeMentri

/ CBS Philadelphia

The countdown to World Cup soccer is officially on.

Wednesday, June 11, marks one year until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played in cities across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Philadelphia is among the host cities preparing to welcome soccer fans from around the world next year. To celebrate, city leaders unveiled the FIFA World Cup countdown clock in Dilworth Park Wednesday morning.

The year 2026 is shaping up to be a busy one for the City of Brotherly Love. Along with hosting five of the World Cup's Group Stage matches, Philadelphia is the site of the MLB All-Star Game, NCAA March Madness and the PGA Championship, and is set to host a large slate of other events to celebrate America's 250th anniversary.

"So many things that are happening here in the next 18 months, any one of those things would make for a big year in any big city," Gregg Caren, president and CEO of Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, said.

All that means big business for the City of Brotherly Love.  As the countdown continues, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau led a summit Wednesday, bringing together tourism officials from across the state and international representatives.

"2026 has 365 days. Our mission is to make sure every one of those days is filled with as many out-of-town visitors that leave Philadelphia with less money than they came with. We want them to feed our local economy," Caren said.

Philadelphia hosting FIFA Club World Cup

Before the official 2026 FIFA World Cup, there will be plenty of soccer to watch in Philadelphia in 2025.

Philadelphia is hosting eight matches in the new FIFA Club World Cup tournament, which will be played at Lincoln Financial Field from June 16 through July 4.

Stockton University in Galloway Township, New Jersey, will serve as one of the training sites for the players and staff of Brazil's CR Flamengo, which has millions of followers worldwide.

Over on Arch Street between 10th and 11th streets, Lion Sports Bar was getting ready to open Wednesday.

"For the Champions League final, you couldn't even walk through here," owner Mark Prinzinger said.

He said the bar has become a haven for soccer fans in the city, even after opening only three months ago.

"You wouldn't think there's that many soccer fans in Philly, but there are," Prinzinger said.

Next week, the bar will host the official FIFA Club World Cup 25 watch party alongside Philadelphia Soccer 2026. Prinzinger is ready to do it all over again this time next year.

"The World Cup coming to Philadelphia is absolutely huge. I'm going to be sleepless for the next 365 days!" Prinzinger said with a laugh.

In:

© 2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=50747257b890e014813016b79ece0fb2'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });