Common Goal x Soccer Forward

Connecting the Tournament Back to Communities Through Soccer Forward Fests 

updated June 11, 2026

In partnership with U.S. Soccer's Soccer Forward Foundation, Common Goal continues its 20-year tradition of centering young people, communities, cross-cultural exchange, and the joy of football within the context of FIFA World Cups. 

The 2026 Soccer Forward Fests mark two decades since Common Goal's first Youth Festival, held alongside the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006™, when 22 teams from five continents gathered in Berlin around a shared belief that football has a unique power to bridge cultures, foster understanding, and bring people together. 

Since then, festivals have accompanied some of football's biggest moments, travelling from Germany to South Africa, Brazil, France, Russia, and most recently Australia. Across each edition, they have created spaces where football becomes more than a spectacle — becoming a platform for connection, exchange, celebration, learning, and belonging. 

This year, Common Goal and Soccer Forward Foundation are building on that legacy in a new way. 

Rather than creating a single gathering, Soccer Forward Fests invite communities across the United States to create their own football experiences. Local organisations, schools, clubs, municipalities, and community leaders are hosting celebrations that reflect their own cultures, realities, and aspirations — from tournaments and watch parties to cultural festivals, school activations, community fairs, and neighbourhood events. 

“As a 12-year-old soccer player, my formative playing years were shaped so profoundly by the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup being hosted in the USA all in a row,” said Mary Connor, Common Goal’s USA Executive Director. “With the FIFA World Cup 2026, 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the horizon, we have the same incredible opportunity to shape the culture of soccer in this country not only for the next five years, but for a generation to come. Soccer Forward Fests is an opportunity to kick off this generational moment with an emphasis on the way that soccer can connect us all, through joy, community, culture, and friendship.” 

Each Fest is distinctly local. Together, they form a nationwide movement built around a simple belief: football can connect us all. 

“We’ve been speaking to so many people in our ecosystem about the scores that matter to them,” said Soccer Forward Executive Director Lex Chalat. “Barely anyone shares a score about winning. They talk about how soccer has changed or inspired them. How it gives them hope or meaning. When you start keeping score of what matters, soccer's power is undeniable.” 

That idea sits at the heart of Soccer Forward Fests: creating spaces where success is measured not only by results on the pitch, but by belonging, connection, participation, and community. 

More than 500 communities, engaging over 100,000 people, have already joined the initiative, creating opportunities for young people, families, and communities to celebrate the game in ways that matter to them. 

Because football's biggest moments should not only be experienced inside stadiums. 

They should happen in communities. In local parks and neighbourhood pitches. Alongside football for good organisations creating safe spaces where the game is used to build belonging, opportunity, and connection. 

By registering a Fest, communities become part of a growing national movement while retaining complete ownership of how they celebrate the game. To support hosts, Soccer Forward Foundation and Common Goal provide resources, ideas, planning tools, promotional support, and opportunities to share stories and learn from one another. 

Together, these local celebrations are creating a national tapestry of the scores that matter most — from first-time players and new friendships to moments of joy, inclusion, cultural exchange, and community pride. 

Because meaningful legacy begins when communities are empowered to shape the experience themselves. 

That is what Soccer Forward Fests represent: ensuring that football's biggest moments belong to more people, and that their impact extends far beyond the final whistle.