Heung-Min Son, SoFi Stadium and the 2026 World Cup: Why Los Angeles is ready for the biggest stage in sport
Visit California hosted Sky Sports' Cam Hogwood in Los Angeles to see what fans can look forward to when World Cup heads to California in 2026; we explore the impact of SoFi Stadium, Heung-Min Son and LA's rich soccer roots as the World Cup returns to the stage of its 1994 final
Tuesday 3 March 2026 06:18, UK
And there it was. A Los Angeles influencer in the wild. Strutting in a cowboy hat and buckle-crested boots, bright pink feather wings fluttering in the Californian breeze, camera phone in hand as if clippers to a barber, pen to a writer, stethoscope to a doctor. Slow-motion royal waving to an imaginary crowd, catwalk music filling the silence.
Said influencer, or aspiring influencer, or mere extravagantly-dressed local, had spawned from nowhere at the start point of the Hollywood Sign trail, hiking tourists momentarily plunged into 'no sudden moves' fascination. They had heard about them, read about them, but never seen one up close. That being said, the Dutchman wearing jeans for a hike in 25-degree heat might have provoked more questions.
An LA influencer admirably devoid of care and undeterred by perceived social norms, basking in the West Coast sunshine and the undeniable main character to their own story. Later that night we watched Woody Harrelson and Jamie Lee Curtis walk the red carpet from across the street along Hollywood Boulevard. A main character location brimming with main character DNA, worthy of global sport's main character, which rolls into town this summer.
"The World Cup is a big deal, it's the biggest, largest single sport event in the world," Kathryn Schloessman, President & CEO of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission (LASEC), told Sky Sports. "We know it, we get it.
- From Super Bowl to World Cup: California awaits as 2026 mega-host
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Los Angeles is a land of Hollywood chutzpah and Beverly Hills pizazz, ingrained with theatre, with glitz, with showmanship, with pink-feathered personalities exemplifying a headquarters for culture and colour. It is for that reason, regardless of whether all Angelenos care for the incoming World Cup or not, that the city will sparkle as a platform for sporting nobility. It is made for the big occasion.
"We think it's an incredible opportunity," added Schloessman. "It's 30 years since the 1994 World Cup here and soccer really is much more prevalent in the United States than it was in '94. It's a really tremendous opportunity to engage our entire community along with other communities and people for the visitors that are going to be coming to Los Angeles to experience it.
"There's a lot of historical ties, the MLS launched here and we expect to see that infusion again and what it's going to do for making soccer even more popular."
Son, Spurs and Shohei
For all that Los Angeles may traditionally be associated with cinema and with celebrities, it too parades rich sporting roots as one of the earliest hubs for soccer in the United States. Between fierce success across its multiple teams, beachside splendour, the David Beckham legacy, Heung-Min Son hoopla, and one of the world's greatest stadiums, the home of the 1994 World Cup final is supremely-placed to run it back on an amplified scale.
"Our team hosted the 2022 Super Bowl in Los Angeles, we've hosted a number of major events and every event is a new learning experience on how to do it a little bit bigger, a little bit better and a little more exciting. And that's what we're going to try and do," said Schloessman.
There are LA influencers, and then there is Vinny Weiss. The LA native, Tulane graduate and Mexican restaurant waiter I would meet in Larchmont neighbourhood, who upon navigating me through Tu Madre's burrito specialties couldn't help but take interest in the British accent. It was discovered we shared both mutual taco adoration and soccer obsession, Weiss revealing himself as a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur fan whose father had played Division 1 football in the US having grown up watching Italian football on Sky Sports and later gravitated towards the Premier League. Go figure.
He summoned memories of attending the May 2016 Battle of the Bridge between Chelsea and Tottenham, when Eric Dier went all Eric Dier, when Willian and Danny Rose went head-to-head, when 12 yellow cards were brandished in one of the great Premier League adverts. He also recalled a night at Ministry of Sound in London. In another life, Vinny and I would be fine friends.
"Don't forget, there's definitely an appetite for soccer," insisted Schloessman. "But more importantly in L.A. there's always an appetite for the world's biggest events. So I think you're going to get a lot of people coming, which is actually what they want."
I had been roaming the sights of LA seeking the perfect, impromptu ambassadors capable of speaking to LA's World Cup intrigue and excitement (or lack of it); in Weiss I had struck gold. He was as biasedly pro-soccer as you might find in LA, but personally banked on not being alone.
The world should hardly be surprised. LA Galaxy was one of the founding members of Major League Soccer in 1996 and and transcended soccer stateside by signing David Beckham in 2007, while Hollywood stars Will Ferrell and Natalie Portman feature as part of the respective ownership groups of Los Angeles FC and the NWSL's Angel City FC. Long before Beckham the iconic Johan Cruyff and George Best even played with the NASL's Los Angeles Aztecs in the 70s.
"They already have their soccer fan base," said Schloessman. "They want the new fan base. They want the people that aren't soccer fans. And you have the world's biggest event coming for 39 days across three countries. That's all anybody's going to be talking about.
"Businesses are going to have distracted employees watching matches, but also people in sports bars, parties, watch parties. We're going to have our fan festival. We're going to have official fan zones throughout the region, so many opportunities to watch. And even if you're not a fan, you'll still be part of the excitement and fun."
California's vast diversity lies at the foundation of its long-established connection to the most popular sport on the planet; 2023 US census data found that upwards of three million Los Angeles County residents were born outside of the United States, while the city is home to a Hispanic population close to two million.
"I think it's 48 percent of our population is Hispanic in Los Angeles," noted Schloessman. "Not to say that every Hispanic is a soccer fan, but it is obviously a very popular sport in that community. And so to that point, we are gauging a lot of the legacy and community activities we are doing to that fan base."
Where Los Angeles Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani has become a beacon of inspiration for the city's sizeable Japanese population, Son's transfer from Tottenham to Los Angeles FC in 2025 has offered similar to the largest Korean population of any state in the country.
"Absolutely," said Schloessman. "Our co-chair for the World Cup bid is also the CEO of LAFC, so he's shared a lot of what they've been doing and the excitement that's been building around him (Son). It's just neat to see.
"We saw it a little bit in baseball with Shohei. That situation in baseball was a little bit of a roadmap, some of the Dodgers owners are also owners in LAFC, how they've taken advantage of the opportunity to bring in a whole new group of fans and make this an international team has been great.
"We see it as an incredible opportunity that to create even more excitement, more fan base building up to the World Cup, so it'd be great to get that community engaged."
SoFi takes centre stage
The NFL's Global Markets Program has also played a role in preparations for this summer's World Cup, the Los Angeles Chargers channelling their growing connections overseas ahead of welcoming teams to SoFi Stadium, which sits within Hollywood Park.
"You can't deny the international audience and the world audience for soccer," Chargers Chief of Staff Fred Maas told Sky Sports. "We've adopted Greece as our global market and to fully appreciate the strength of soccer in Greece and what it means to the population there is something I appreciated, but didn't fully appreciate.
"This is a great soccer town, and will continue to be a great soccer town. We welcome all comers. If you're a sports lover, you love soccer, you love lacrosse, you like track, the Olympics are coming too, we embrace all fans."
The US men's national team will kick off their World Cup campaign against Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12, as one of eight games scheduled to be played at SoFi during the tournament.
"We've hosted virtually every soccer team here as well as a number of international teams," Maas continued. "We've had a number of international teams that come here to just look at our training facility see what we're doing and meet with our folks. There's been a great fraternity of sports and we think this is just a great opportunity to showcase it and get people exposed to soccer.
"It's huge for our organisation. It always has been. We've embraced the soccer community and have done a number of things with all the teams here. But it's a way also to give back.
"LA is such an incredible place and it's really not just one city, it's a dozen different cities and experiences."
SoFi opened in September 2020 as home to the NFL's Rams and Chargers, since playing stage to Super Bowl LVI - won by the Rams - WrestleMania 39, Copa America matches, the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship, the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup final and A-lister concerts including Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, Metallica, Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar.
Its steep seating bowl traps a raucous, rattling noise while its 70,000 square-foot crowning halo display consisting of around 80 million pixels provides stats, instant replays and in-game action courtesy of the biggest graphics control system in sport. Together it forges a powerhouse in global stadia. It is sleek, it is dwarfing yet intimate.
"We have the affinity screen, which is the largest ever created in sport, as well as our LED rooftop, which is visible to the millions of travellers that do fly into LAX that we're only a few miles from," Tony Vroman, Senior Director of Facility & Campus Operations Strategy at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, told Sky Sports.
"We are underneath that flight path, so we are truly able to welcome millions of people from across the world into LA.
"We've got more than 260 suites, which has eight different concepts, different club spaces and then more than 13,000 premium seats, which are all designed to cater to the convenience, personalisation and extraordinary fan experience."
Vroman hails SoFi as one of sport's unique fan experiences, from the technology and versatility to the fan vantage point and personalised Hollywood Park environment.
"It's a very immersive experience that begins well before the fan arrives into their seat, and certainly continues long after they leave," he continued. "We have a very much live, work, and play destination here at Hollywood Park, 298 acres worth, which allows folks to not only just attend the event, but also really come here to start their day, enjoy their day, go to the event, and then really cap their evening off with a great experience at many of our restaurants on campus."
It comes amid a historic chapter for Los Angeles on the sporting landscape as the city gears up for not only the World Cup, but also Super Bowl 61 in February 2027 and the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. In fact, SoFi will underscore its might among global venues by installing an Olympic-standard pool as host to the swimming events at the 2028 Games.
The process this summer has involved a close collaboration with FIFA in preparation for the tournament, president Gianni Infantino having made no secret of his desire to deliver '104 Super Bowls' across his expanded World Cup format. He saw the iconic pageantry of US sport, and wanted in.
"I couldn't say more positive things with them," Vroman said of FIFA. "They're honest with us of what they need from the venue. We're honest with them of what we can provide and how we can provide it.
"We obviously want to provide a best-in-class experience for all of our events. FIFA is no exception. FIFA has learned how to adapt to not just our stadium's busy year-round calendar, but I'm sure many others.
"We're confident because of our modern design and advanced technology, we can provide that better than most. There's a huge difference in this year's planning for the global events."
The World Cup might be deemed the United States' prized opportunity to shatter the soccer ceiling for good, once and for all. So too a window in which to mount a lasting legacy and pave the way towards prominence on its own sporting terrain, where, even for its influx of marquee names at the latter stages of their careers, it continues to play catch-up to the nation's all-conquering homegrown disciplines.
Los Angeles, with its history and with its glamour and with its infrastructure, has the chance to play a central role. The Vinny Weisses of the world shall watch on, in view of inspiring the emergence of more Vinny Weisses.
"It's an opportunity to talk about the greatness of LA and what it'll bring from people around the world that are coming here to appreciate soccer," said the Chargers' Maas. "You will see a stadium like no other in the world, certainly up there with some of the great soccer stadiums in Europe and in other countries, this place is really unique.
"It'll be a magnet for opportunities both in the venue as well as outside the venue. The town has embraced it and there'll be extraordinary things to do that you can't do anywhere else."
Which World Cup games are in Los Angeles?
Here is a breakdown of the confirmed and prospective games in Los Angeles this summer.
Group B:
- June 18: Switzerland vs. UEFA Playoff Winner A - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Group D:
- June 12: USMNT vs. Paraguay - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
- June 25: UEFA Playoff Winner C vs. USMNT - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Group G:
- June 15: Iran vs. New Zealand - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
- June 21: Belgium vs. Iran - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Round of 32:
- June 28: Group A runner-up vs. Group B runner-up - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
- July 2: Group H winner vs. Group J runner-up - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
Quarter-finals:
- July 10: Round of 16 match 5 winner vs. Round of 16 match 6 winner - SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
