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Excited soccer<\/a> fans gathered outside the Saddledome on Sunday as Calgary welcomed the FIFA<\/a> World Cup trophy<\/a> tour which is making its way across Canada ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n Some were able to get their picture taken mere inches from the iconic trophy, which is only allowed to be touched by FIFA representatives players and coaches of teams that have won the World Cup, and foreign dignitaries.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be the closest Columbians to ever get to a World Cup,\u201d laughed Brandon Ortiz, a fan who attended the event with friends. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal, only the champions of the World Cup have ever touched it, it\u2019s super awesome to get that close to it.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tFans get up close and personal with the iconic FIFA World Cup trophy.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tDrew Stremick \/ Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so exciting,\u201d exclaimed fan Aisha Nadem of the trophy. \u201cI can\u2019t even believe I saw it with my own two eyes! I think I already passed out and forgot what happened!\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.<\/p>\n Alongside representatives from FIFA, Coca-Cola (a major sponsor), and various levels of government, soccer player Roque J\u00fanior unveiled the trophy to fans. J\u00fanior was a defender with Brazil when they won the cup in 2002.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, (unveiling the trophy is) a pleasure. Because it was a dream, a childhood dream you know?\u201d J\u00fanior explained. \u201cEvery time that I meet the trophy, I remember that I won the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tThere were plenty of opportunities for fans to test their skills on Sunday.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tDrew Stremick \/ Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore on Sports There were also plenty of opportunities for fans to try their skills, from seeing how high of a header they could hit to passing and shooting drills.<\/p>\n Hosting responsibilities for this years tournament has been split between Canada, the United States and Mexico, with games in Canada taking place in Vancouver and Toronto. Some fans hope that as more and more Canadians become fans of the sport, eventually games will be played in Calgary too.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tThe 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place from June 11 until July 19, 2026.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tDrew Stremick \/ Global News\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not impossible,\u201d said Soma Ali, who also attended Sunday\u2019s festivities. \u201cIf there are more fans there will be a chance to host one of the games in the future!\u201d<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n The first game of the tournament will see Mexico squaring off against South Africa on June 11. Canada will face Bosnia on June 12 in Toronto at BMO Field.<\/p>\n \n\t\t© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Excited soccer fans gathered outside the Saddledome on Sunday as Calgary welcomed the FIFA World Cup trophy tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51,17,1314,1312,205,49,1313],"class_list":{"0":"post-2046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fifa","11":"tag-fifa-world-cup","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-world-cup-trophy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/national.jpg\")
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