Soccer came home this summer — Where to watch the World Cup in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau

Something has shifted in the American sports calendar, and the clearest proof is simply where the games are being played. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is unfolding across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — the first time the U.S. has hosted since 1994, the first 48-team field in the tournament's history, and the first World Cup ever shared by three countries.

The U.S. team's opening match this month drew more than 18 million viewers on Fox and its streaming platforms — by the network's Nielsen count, the most-watched men's World Cup telecast in English-language U.S. history, and more than double what the same team pulled four years ago.

The tournament is into its knockout rounds, where one loss sends a team home, and the timing is friendly to Alaska. Most matches kick off between mid-morning and late afternoon Alaska time, which makes a World Cup game an easy lunch-hour or after-work outing rather than a middle-of-the-night alarm.

In Anchorage, the marquee event is free. On Friday, July 3, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub on West 27th Avenue is screening Argentina's match against Cape Verde, with doors at 1:30 p.m. and kickoff at 2. There's a genuine story in that one: Cape Verde, an island nation of roughly half a million people, is the smallest country ever to reach the World Cup knockout stage, and it got there in its tournament debut. Standing in its way is Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina, in what is widely expected to be Messi's final World Cup. Admission is free, limited to two tickets per person, first-come, first-served.

Anchorage also has a running series. The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Alaska and Fox 4 have been hosting watch parties at the 907 Alehouse through the tournament, and the next one is a quarterfinal on Saturday, July 11, at the 907 Alehouse on Old Seward Highway, with kickoff around 12:45 p.m.

In Fairbanks, that same series comes north for the final weekend. The Banks Alehouse on Old Steese Highway is set to host the tournament's third-place game on Saturday, July 18, kicking off around 12:45 p.m.

In Juneau, no public watch party has surfaced — but the capital has the rooms for it. McGivney's Sports Bar & Grill out in the Mendenhall Valley and Squirez on Glacier Highway are the kind of TV-wall sports bars where a big match tends to end up on the screen. Call ahead to make sure they have the game you want.

And if your town isn't on the list, the World Cup is genuinely everywhere this year. Every match airs on Fox or FS1 in English, streaming through the Fox One and Fox Sports apps, and on Telemundo in Spanish, streaming on Peacock. The whole thing builds to the final on July 19 — the first World Cup final on American soil in a generation, and a fair bet that the kids watching it in Alaska this summer will never think of soccer as a foreign game.