On the night Canada thrashed Qatar 6-0 at their home ground BC Place, claiming the first win in the team’s World Cup history, East Vancouver outside the stadium was just as electric. At the PNE, the century-old fairgrounds in Hastings Park, the official FIFA Fan Festival drew 40,943 spectators, setting a new single-day attendance high since the festival opened this tournament.
This free-admission Fan Festival launched at the PNE on June 11, centred on a brand-new open-air Amphitheatre that holds roughly 10,000 people, letting fans watch the matches on a giant screen alongside live performances by Canadian and international artists. The site was planned for a single-day capacity of about 25,000, yet on June 18 it squeezed in nearly 41,000 people, a testament to the magic of the Maple Leaf squad playing on home soil.
In fact, Vancouver’s football fever had been building since the very first week. According to figures released by the organizers, the Fan Festival drew 87,380 visits in its first four days alone, averaging more than 21,000 per day; and on June 13, when Vancouver hosted its first World Cup match (Australia vs. Turkey), 31,481 people poured in on that single day. Now, on June 18, that figure has been smashed again by nearly 10,000, blowing right past what had been the original “cap.”
For many local fans, this old fairground famous for hosting carnivals has transformed into a football party decked out in red and maple. Strangers crammed in front of a giant screen, leaping up together over the same goal — this is precisely the most captivating local scene of the World Cup landing in Canada.
Source: Daily Hive, June 20, 2026, “Record 41,000 attend FIFA World Cup Fan Festival Vancouver” (https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fifa-world-cup-vancouver-pne-hastings-park-attendance-record-canada-qatar); match results can be found at the official FIFA Match Centre (https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026).
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