With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in full swing, local D.C. bars and restaurants are looking to score with match day celebrations, specials and watch parties for soccer fans across the District, no matter which team they’re rooting for.
Lasting just over a month with 104 matches, this year’s World Cup is especially exciting for U.S. and D.C. soccer fans alike, as many games are hosted across the country in major cities like Atlanta, New Jersey and San Francisco. Several District bars and restaurants said they are anticipating the rush of crowds the upcoming matches will bring in, serving up specialty drinks and food options, partnerships with fan clubs, embassies and even drumlines to celebrate the series of global games.
William Brancati, general manager of Solace Outpost, a sports bar in Navy Yard, said the bar has big plans for the World Cup, as they are partners with American Outlaws, an unofficial nationwide supporters group for the national men’s and women’s soccer teams. For the first World Cup match on June 11, Brancati said it was one of the bar’s busiest nights they have ever seen, with over 500 guests in attendance and featuring a live American Outlaws drumline performance.
“It was a really cool watch party environment, something I’ve rarely seen for the other big weekend games,” Brancati said.
Hosting watch parties for every World Cup match, Brancati said Solace Outpost has brought in food and drink specials, including a signature American Outlaw Pilsner, for a World Cup special price of six dollars per can. Brancati said the bar has also rolled out several new menu items like loaded corn nachos, a slider sampler and chicken tenders served with sauces inspired by competing countries, like a chimichurri aioli for Argentina, curry ketchup for England, smokehouse ranch for the U.S. and Dijon cream sauce for France.
Brancati said the atmosphere during matches, especially for the U.S. match, has been “chaos” with the indoor and outside patio completely packed with fans. In addition to U.S. supporters, Brancati said they are expecting large crowds for the England games, as Solace Outpost hosts the D.C. Manchester United supporters club during the premier league season.
“We’re expecting the Red Devils and the Manchester crowd to kind of show up heavily for these England games too,” Brancati said.
As the World Cup continues, Brancati said Solace Outpost has more events planned throughout the next month including a live DJ for the USA-Australia match on June 19 and giveaways for fans throughout the tournament.
“I think sports have that commonality that brings people together, that’s really nice,” Brancati said. “It’s really nice to just root for the home team together.”
For fans of the Mexico national team, El Rey, a Tex-Mex Cantina with locations in Navy Yard and U Street, labeled itself as the “official unofficial” bar for El Tri supporters. Mykl Wu, El Rey’s communications director said El Rey will play all World Cup matches in Spanish, hoping to create a gathering place for fans to watch matches together.
“We just really want to provide the place where people can step outside of their apartment, come downstairs and come down the block and feel comfortable,” Wu said.
Wu said El Rey is hosting watch parties featuring specials like $30 Truly and Sun Cruiser buckets and $5 Classic Queso Nachos. With planning starting earlier this year, Wu said El Rey has been trying to build relationships with local Mexican communities in preparation for the games.
“Now more than ever, it’s great to be able to host and to have a place to host a space where people from all walks of life, all professions, everything, come together and they reunite over one particular thing,” Wu said.
Wu said El Rey is a space to bring people together, with Mexico games packing the restaurant full of supporters wearing jerseys and bringing Mexico flags to create a festive viewing space for fans. Wu said as the tournament continues, he expects the strong crowds to continue as fans seek out a communal viewing spaces regardless of Mexico’s advancement throughout the tournament.
“So I think no matter what happens, El Rey will be here, we’ll be showing all the games, and we’ll continue to provide a great environment and a happy vibe for everybody.”
At Aslin Beer Company on 14th Street, Union Jack decor hung across the space’s walls for an England game while Swiss flags draped across the brewery in celebration of the Switzerland national team, all in an effort to draw soccer fans in for the World Cup games.
Michael Richardson, the general manager at Aslin, said he started planning for the World Cup in March, formulating three beers to help fans celebrate with a drink commemorative of their favorite team’s host country: “Yanks” for America, “Clean Sheet” for Canada and “El Tri” for Mexico. During games, he said, Aslin offers $9.99 32 ounce German beer steins for seven select beers, including the three made just for the tournament.
Richardson said Aslin has already hosted the German and British embassies, who rented out the space to cheer on their respective teams.
He said customers have been booking tables in advance to view the games, requesting spots situated in front of the TV. Richardson said he is anticipating the space to be packed for the weekend spotlight games, including the USA game against Australia Friday.
Though Aslin isn’t officially known as a sports bar, he said the buzz surrounding the World Cup and the surplus of fans coming into the brewery looking for a spot to watch a game has brought the company more exposure to the sporting community in D.C., something he hopes to continue as the games progress.
“It’s really cool to just work with the different people from the different countries, and we’re hoping that this introduces our brand and beer to new people,” he said.
Solomon Encubahre, the service and private events manager at Cana, a Brazilian restaurant and bar in Adams Morgan, said the turnout was “immense” for the Brazil-Morocco game last week. He said to keep the restaurant manageable for employees to walk around and remain within customer capacity, the restaurant has special reservations for specific tables near the TV, and has a two-hour turn time at each table.
“We wanted to kind of maintain that level of service where people can still dine and have a great experience without having a screaming fan on their shoulder,” Encubahre said.
Encubahre said Cana’s sister restaurant, Mercy Me, located in the Yours Truly Hotel in West End, is hosting a pop-up dubbed Bar Mundial, where they’ve transformed the garden patio into a viewing party and are selling seats for $20 to view each game. Each time Brazil plays, he said Cana features craft cocktails and specialty Brazilian grill dishes.
Encubahre said much of the staff at Cana is Brazilian, and when the national anthem started playing during a recent game, many stopped what they were doing to sing along.
“We knew it was going to be a big deal, especially since this is our first World Cup being open as a bar,” he said. “We knew that Brazil fans are very die-hard, so we had to figure out what we were going to do to accommodate that.”
