Making sense of the 2026 World Cup is no easy task. For the first time ever, it’s being hosted in sixteen cities across three countries — Canada, Mexico, and the US. One of those cities is Los Angeles. The “Los Angeles” matches are actually taking place in the city of Inglewood. The stadium in Inglewood at which the eight games are being played, SoFi Stadium, has temporarily been renamed Los Angeles Stadium.
Are you still with me?
In addition to the actual games, there are free, city-sanctioned community watch parties called Kick it in the Park. There are Los Angeles County-organized LA County Parks Soccer Watch Parties. There are official Fan Zones. There are corporate takeovers and commercial events. There are artist-curated watch nights at museums. There are “ethnic” markets and restaurants which you can be sure will be tuned into their respective homelands’ performances. And finally, there are an estimated 450 sports bars — all of which, I expect, will be showing the games.
There are, of course, guides. First — the ultimate source to which one would normally turn, Eat the World Los Angeles, is not releasing a guide for totally understandable reasons. There is, however, the Torched Guide to LA’s World Cup which is focused with getting to events the only sane way — without a car. There’s also Eater LA‘s Best Sports Bars in Los Angeles to Watch the World Cup Map which, quite irresponsibly (in my opinion) and with typical carbrained Zero Vision doesn’t mention transit but instead complains about things like lack of car storage. Here’s a thought — places that serve alcoholic beverages shouldn’t have parking lots at all and those that do should convert them to outdoor beer gardens. Finally, there’s L.A. Taco‘s Ultimate Guide To 2026 World Cup Watch Parties And Fútbol Events In L.A., which is also worth consulting.
What I haven’t seen, so far, is a map of the events with transit routes. I know, you use the Metro app or Transit and you don’t need a stinkin’ map. But maps aren’t just for navigation — they help you visualize where events are taking place, which are close to train lines, train stations, and which are close to you. And because this is an interactive, online map — we don’t have to be too concerned with it becoming too cluttered to be readable. Hopefully this is helpful.
Yesterday was my birthday and I’ve got work today — so there’s no time to map every single event. However, if you want an event added, let me know in the comments and I’ll do so. Thanks in advance.
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Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, essayist, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always open to paid writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities. He is not interested in generating advertorials, cranking out clickbait, or laboring away in a listicle mill “for exposure.”
Brightwell has written for Angels Walk LA, Amoeblog, Boom: A Journal of California, diaCRITICS, Hey Freelancer!, Hidden Los Angeles, and KCET Departures. His art has been featured by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture & Design Museum, the Craft Contemporary, Form Follows Function, the Los Angeles County Store, Sidewalking: Coming to Terms With Los Angeles, Skid Row Housing Trust, the 1650 Gallery, and Abundant Housing LA.
Brightwell has been featured as subject and/or guest in The Los Angeles Times, VICE, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, CurbedLA, LA Times 404, Marketplace, Office Hours Live, L.A. Untangled, Spectrum News, Eastsider LA, Boing Boing, Los Angeles, I’m Yours, Notebook on Cities and Culture, the Silver Lake History Collective, KCRW‘s Which Way, LA?, All Valley Everything, Hear in LA, KPCC‘s How to LA, at Emerson College, and at the University of Southern California. He is the co-host of the podcast, Nobody Drives in LA.
Brightwell has written a haiku-inspired guidebook, Los Angeles Neighborhoods — From Academy Hill to Zamperini Field and All Points Between; and a self-guided walking tour of Silver Lake covering architecture, history, and culture, titled Silver Lake Walks. If you’re an interested literary agent or publisher, please out. You may also follow on Bluesky, Duolingo, Facebook, Goodreads, iNaturalist, Instagram, Letterboxd, Medium, Mubi, Substack, Threads, and TikTok.
Eric Brightwell 