The Philippines, United States of America, Mexico and Canada joined forces last weekend to literally kick-off the FIFA World Cup 2026 with Pinoy Football Fiesta, a live watch party and a children’s football clinic in MOA Sky, SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Pinoy Football Fiesta, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Bridgette Walker said in her speech, is part of the 80th anniversary of the bilateral relations between the US and the Philippines this year.
“I heard that the competition was quite fierce among 10-year-olds, so congratulations to all of them,” she said of the football clinic among children in the local community coached by the Philippine Football Federation.
“Our position today and every day of the (FIFA) tournament is really about teamwork,” Walker said of US, Mexico and Canada’s joint co-hosting of this year’s World Cup, representing their countries’ “great effort to achieve shared objectives, create new opportunities and strengthen ties with the world.”
The FIFA hosting, she said, also marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the USA, offering “a unique opportunity to showcase America’s pride, world-class hospitality and history” and to help promote “economic growth, tourism and sports.”
The World Cup, said Mexican Ambassador Daniel Hernández Joseph in his speech, is the biggest sporting event in history.
“I want to emphasize hospitality because hospitality is quite evident in this whole World Cup,” he said, saying their country is excited to connect with fellow football fans all over the world as “one global community.”
“And that’s what the World Cup does — it brings everybody together in one single goal, in one single fest like the Pinoy Football Fiesta that we’re having today,” he noted.
“Hosting the World Cup is indeed a very exciting moment,” affirmed Canadian Ambassador David Hartman in his speech. “It is an important one for North America… In the next 39 days, football or soccer fans from around the world would be focusing their attention and energies on North America as our three countries jointly host the FIFA World Cup… an incredible tournament where the world’s best footballers would take center stage and where millions of travelers would go to North America to watch the matches in person, and with a remarkable five billion fans who would watch the match online…”
As one of the most multicultural places on Earth, Canada can bring the world together through co-hosting the World Cup, he said. The tournament, he assured, showcases “the very best of what the world had to offer.”
Pinoy Football Fiesta, according to Philippine Football Federation, is a step toward bringing the Philippines and its 38,000 football fans closer to their dream of joining the ranks of US, Canada and Mexico as football superpowers.
According to the federation, they have been starting to engage children from the grassroots and other classes, up until college students, to join the sport through establishing community clubs and international partnerships. They stressed that they are “committed to bring the same World Cup energy to our local community.”