Florida During the World Cup Summer

The World Cup will be held in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in 2026. Miami is one of the host cities, a little over two and a half hours’ drive from Cape Coral. For four weeks, everything on the Gulf Coast will revolve around one game. Anyone who calls this area home will experience it firsthand this summer.

The largest World Cup ever has been underway since June 11. For the first time, three countries are co-hosting the tournament, and for the first time, 48 teams are participating. Leading up to the final on July 19 in New York, the games will be held across the entire continent, from Vancouver to Mexico City. And right in the middle of it all is Florida.

For Cape Coral, this means the world is coming a little closer for a few weeks. What usually takes place on the other side of the Atlantic is just a car ride away this time. For many Germans who have started a new life here, it’s their first World Cup in their own new country. They’re no longer watching it from afar. They’re part of the host nation.

Seven games in Miami

Florida’s venue is in Miami Gardens. Hard Rock Stadium—referred to simply as „Miami Stadium“ during the tournament—will host seven matches. Four of those will be in the group stage: Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, Uruguay vs. Cape Verde, Brazil vs. Scotland, and Portugal vs. Colombia. In addition, there will be one round of 16 match, one quarterfinal, and the third-place match on July 18.

So these aren’t just side notes we’re talking about here. Brazil, Portugal, Uruguay—these are names for which people in Europe buy tickets in advance. In Southwest Florida, a day trip is all it takes. It’s about 225 kilometers from Cape Coral to the stadium—a good two and a half hours via Alligator Alley. Leave in the morning, return in the evening, and catch a World Cup match in between.

A host country in the summer is a different kind of place. Jerseys in the streets, a dozen languages outside the stadiums, flags on the cars. For four weeks, South Florida isn’t just a vacation destination—it’s part of an event that the whole world is watching. And Cape Coral is close enough to be right in the middle of it all without being in the thick of the hustle and bustle.

Soccer has arrived in Florida

Anyone who still thinks of Florida as just a football and basketball state hasn’t been there in a while. In recent years, soccer has found its place here, and it has a name: Inter Miami—ever since Lionel Messi started playing for the club. The games fill the stands, consistently drawing over 70,000 spectators, and the entire league now attracts significantly more fans than it did two years ago.

That’s changing the atmosphere. Soccer, long considered a sport for kids and newcomers, has become part of everyday American life. Sports bars no longer show only baseball and the NFL. When the World Cup is played in their own country, even the neighbor who previously knew only the Dolphins tunes in. For everyone who grew up with soccer, this feels familiar.

And the tournament’s impact extends beyond the summer. For a few weeks, soccer is the topic of conversation—in schools, in bars, on the pickup fields. Children who are seeing a packed stadium for the first time will stick with the sport. What is taken for granted in Germany is just beginning to take root here. Anyone from a soccer-loving country recognizes this moment.

A Little Piece of Home on the Gulf Coast

There’s actually more here that feels familiar than you might think at first glance. Cape Coral is home to one of the largest German communities in Florida. For years, Germans have been among the largest groups of visitors and second-home owners in the region, and a vibrant community of its own has developed around them.

Right in the middle of it all is the German American Social Club of Cape Coral. For over sixty years, with about 1,200 members, it has hosted Oktoberfest, Carnival, dance evenings, and everything that goes with them. If you’re looking for a German beer and a few fellow countrymen this World Cup summer, you won’t have to drive far. Here, home isn’t just a memory—it’s a fixed date on the calendar.

The association is just the most visible part of it. In Cape Coral, there are German bakers and doctors, German-speaking get-togethers, and stores where you can get advice in German. People live the American way while still staying connected to what they know. It’s this blend that makes the place so appealing to so many expats: trying out the new without completely letting go of the old.

Where We Watch Germany's Games

Let's be honest: The German national team won't be playing in Florida during the group stage. It will face Curaçao, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador in Houston, Toronto, and New York. So anyone who wants to see the DFB team in person will have to travel farther.

It’s more fun together anyway. People watch the Germany games here together—at the club, in sports bars, and here at DARIA headquarters. For once, the time difference works in our favor: Florida is six hours behind Germany, so an evening game back home is a game here in the bright afternoon. The sun is high in the sky, the beer is cold, and for ninety minutes, the whole room speaks German. It’s on afternoons like these that neighbors become friends and a foreign country becomes a home.

More Than Just a Tournament

In the summer, the world comes to Florida. Sometimes for a tournament, but mostly for the sun. The hotels fill up, vacation homes are in high demand, and anyone who has a home here doesn’t need to make a reservation to be part of it. They’re already there.

A World Cup comes around every four years—and even less often in one’s own country. But the feeling it evokes is what drives Cape Coral anyway: experiencing something together that’s bigger than any one person. We build houses here—that’s one part of it. The other is the community that lives in them, gets together on game days, and realizes that, even far away from Germany, they don’t miss a thing.

Soccer is the event this summer. But the reason people are staying is something else. It’s the place where they feel they belong, even though their old home is nearly eight thousand kilometers away. Anyone spending this summer in Florida isn’t just watching a tournament—they’re experiencing it from the inside.