Jacksonville's Hodges Stadium has served as the site of U.S. Open Cup matches as well as USL Championship and Gainbridge Super League contests amid the city's post-pandemic commitment to men's and women's professional soccer. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on June 11, 2026 at 5:44 pm
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The 1994 men’s FIFA World Cup begat sustainable professional soccer in the United States. Three decades later, pro soccer has a foothold here and a culture that has helped develop the world’s game throughout the River City.
The return of the men’s FIFA World Cup has illuminated the local growth.
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Pro soccer returned to Jacksonville last year in part because the last men’s FIFA World Cup on American shores allowed a teenager to dream of a future in the sport.
Sporting Jax majority owner Ricky Caplan was 13 when the United States last hosted the men’s World Cup. He watched games at his grandparents’ home and became enamored by the sport.
Today, the Sporting Jax men’s roster has the children of former Finnish, English and American internationals. Its women’s team is led by Scottish international Georgia Brown. Sporting Jax has more than 11,000 registered youth soccer players, making it one of the largest clubs within the 105,000-member Florida Youth Soccer Association.
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With so many youth players, and up-close observation of the professional game, the anticipation around this year’s tournament is that it will launch American soccer into the country’s sporting mainstream.
The United States men’s national team will play Paraguay on at 9 p.m. Friday EDT; Australia on Juneteenth at 3 p.m. EDT and Turkey on June 25 at 10 p.m. EDT.
Hundreds of people at local soccer clubs are expected to watch the matches.
Jacksonville FC will host a watch party at Patton Park on Friday night as the USMNT faces Paraguay. Florida Prime Sports, a St. Augustine-based club that provides soccer, baseball, pickleball and more, will use the three USMNT group stage matches as a fundraiser for its financial assistance programs.
Bars and breweries across Jacksonville — a city where the USMNT is 5-0-1 all time — will also host World Cup watch parties this month.
“One way I look at the World Cup is it’s a game that brings people together,” Marissa Lewis says. “The World Cup for Jacksonville is a chance to cultivate the community and bring soccer to the bigger stage.”
This fall, Lewis will begin her second season as the head coach of the Edward Waters University women’s soccer program.
The buzz around this year’s tournament does not rival what she witnessed traveling through Europe in 2018. But, the beautiful game has a way of connecting people that no other sport can.
“Now, more than ever, with soccer rising in America amongst women, there is very much an opportunity for teams to be a culmination of people from everywhere,” Lewis says.
Edward Waters’ 2025 team had Spaniards, Canadians, Serbians, Americans and people within the Haitian diaspora.
Jacksonville boys high school soccer teams frequently feature an array of Brazilians, Serbians, Bosnians, Venezuelans, Mexicans and more.
Julian Sanchez says the game is growing here. He completed his third year as the boys soccer coach at Sandalwood High School during the 2025-26 academic year and led the Saints to a 9-6-3 record and a second straight postseason berth.
Sanchez says there are plenty of talented players in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida who are overlooked. He hopes the World Cup will create visibility for those undercover gems.
“We are a very diverse culture,” Sanchez says of the local soccer scene. “You have coaches like (Mandarin High boys soccer coach Jason) Cooley or myself who take kids from all walks of life and make something special. … The diversity that we have here, we are very underrated and overlooked. There is a lot of passion for the sport here and a lot of talent.”
So far, that talent hasn’t made its way through the men’s American pipeline.
Rooting interest
There is no one from Jacksonville on the American roster this year. Alex Freeman, a 21-year-old defender from Broward County, is the only Floridian in the squad.
Nevertheless, the world’s largest sporting event does have a Northeast Florida connection.
Cote d’Ivoire forward Yan Diomande’s journey to the World Cup stage included a brief spell as a student at Yulee High School.
The 19-year-old moved from the west African county to Northeast Florida. Diomande’s American adventure later took him to DME Academy, a boarding school and sports training academy in Daytona Beach, before launching his career in Europe. Diomande was named Rookie of the Season in the German Bundesliga last month.
What to watch at World Cup 2026
There will be no shortage of stories to follow this summer.
- Will the U.S. men emulate the women and win a World Cup at home?
- Will the incomparable Lionel Messi captain Argentina to a second consecutive title, days after his 39th birthday?
- Will Morocco buttress its 2022 run to the semifinals with another extended run?
- What will Spanish wunderkind Lamine Yamal do on the world’s brightest stage?
- Which teams will produce the upset that make the world stop?
As for Sanchez, he is Colombian. His heart is with Los Cafeteros to lift the trophy. His head says Portugal and France may be the favorites.
“Soccer is a growing sport in the city. You can see it in the culture,” Sanchez says. “There is interest in players wanting to learn, wanting to see that you can go somewhere with soccer in Jacksonville.”
