The FIFA World Cup is coming to Northern California! It’s thrilling to contemplate World Cup soccer happening in the Bay Area; the last time we saw the tournament in California was back in 1994 at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (the Women’s World Cup was staged in the area in 1999, as well).
This year, in addition to Los Angeles, California’s matches will be held at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium—but you probably don’t know the venue by that name. So here’s everything you need to know about successfully getting to the game and enjoying it.
Where is the World Cup being held in San Francisco?
The most important bit of information to dispense is that the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium—where the games will be held—is not actually in San Francisco. Rather, it’s in Santa Clara, about an hour’s drive south from downtown San Francisco. That means that unless you make plans to also head into San Francisco for a few days, you’ll miss the chance to experience this fantastic city by the bay.
You may already know this stadium as Levi’s Stadium; it is temporarily experiencing a name change just to host the World Cup games because FIFA rules do not permit use of a commercially branded stadium. Outside of the tournament, this is where the San Francisco 49ers play and where Bad Bunny performed just a few months ago—oh, right, and the Super Bowl just so happened to be held there at the same time.
Which airport should I fly into?
The closest is San José Mineta International Airport, which is just 10 minutes by car from the stadium. But you will find more frequent flights through San Francisco International Airport in South San Francisco, which is a 35 minute drive. SFO has 1,300 flights coming in and out daily, while San Jose has less than 200.
How can I get to the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium? Is there public transportation?
Yes, there are lots of ways to get to the stadium without driving. You can take light rail or the bus through the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), or use the ACE rail or Amtrak Capitol Corridor heavy rail. This rail line also connects to Caltrain for access to San Francisco.
The closest VTA and ACE/Capitol Corridor station is the Great America Station, which is just a five minute walk to the stadium entrance. VTA alone is $2.50 one way, while ACE starts at $5 and can go up to $15 if you’re coming from a farther distance (for instance, Stockton). The Capitol Corridor goes to Bay Area stations and even as far out as Sacramento and Colfax; dynamic pricing starts at $5 if you’re just riding for a few stations. The closest Caltrain station is the Mountain View station; from there, transfer to the VTA orange line to get you to the Great America Station. That would cost about $10 one way including the VTA leg.
Is there parking at the stadium?
The stadium is close to major roadways: Highways 101, 237 and 880; the Lawrence Expressway; and San Tomas Expressway. Locals are used to figuring out parking for 49ers games, but this will be a whole new level of congestion with a different audience. Parking is handled at the stadium by FIFA itself, and here’s the scoop: There’s no match day on-site parking purchases; instead, you’ll need to have a prepaid parking pass, and you must hold tickets to the game to be eligible to purchase parking. Currently, stadium parking is still available for all games, but you’re not going to like the price, which starts at $203 and jumps to $269 for the knockout game.
What about riding bikes?
You may be thinking, right, there’s no way it’s easy to ride your bike to a 68,500-person stadium… but many of the roads closed to car traffic are actually open to bikes on game days, and the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail leads to the stadium.
All kinds of bikes, including e-bikes and scooters, can be parked for free and watched during the game by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. For a map of various bike trails that lead to the stadium, click here. The longest time a biker has ever had to wait to exit the stadium is… 12 minutes. That’s pretty incredible.
How many matches will be played in San Francisco?
Six matches, including five group fixtures and one knockout game. The five group-stage games are with Qatar, Switzerland, Austria, Jordan, Paraguay, Algeria and Australia. The knockout game from the 32 fixture will be played on July 1 at 5pm (a good excuse to get out of work early!).
What’s the match schedule?
You can see the full match schedule here; there will be 104 games played by 48 teams in 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. But never mind those; here are the ones taking place at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium:
Saturday, June 13
🇶🇦 Qatar vs. 🇨🇭 Switzerland at noon
Tuesday, June 16
🇦🇹 Austria vs. 🇯🇴 Jordan at 9pm
Friday, June 19
🇹🇷 Türkiye vs. 🇵🇾 Paraguay at 8pm
Monday, June 22
🇯🇴 Jordan vs. 🇩🇿 Algeria at 8pm
Thursday, June 25
🇵🇾 Paraguay vs. 🇦🇺 Australia at 7pm
Saturday, July 1
Knockout game
Can I still get tickets?
While it’s a little late, you may still be able to score seats through the “last minute sales” button on this page. You have to create a FIFA account just to check; it’s probably worth it to do so. You can also look at official resale/exchange tickets through the same link at the Marketplace button. Other options are, of course, StubHub, SeatGeek and SeatPick. We looked at SeatGeek for you; as of this writing, there were tickets available for all six matches, ranging in price from $166 to $281 for the five regular games, and starting at $707 for the knockout game.
Where should I stay?
You can walk to the stadium from two hotels: the Hilton Santa Clara and the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. The Hilton Santa Clara is less than a five minute walk to the stadium, with a pool, free Wi-Fi and an award-winning restaurant. Self-parking is usually $25, but you’ll want to inquire about game day pricing. The Hyatt Regency Santa Clara is a similar walking distance, with a pool, several restaurants and a grab-and-go market.
If you’re looking for more of a boutique stay and don't mind driving, the retro Wild Palms in nearby Sunnyvale is adorable and only 15 minutes by car. Twenty minutes from the stadium, you’ll find the Nobu Hotel Palo Alto, where you can channel the Japanese philosophy of Shiawase, which means happiness and good luck—it might help your preferred national team win. The rooms are Japanese-inspired, and you can even book one of five Ryokan Suites, while the sushi bar and dining room continue the cultural theme.
What else should I do while visiting?
Santa Clara doesn’t have a walkable downtown like you’d wish for, but the city’s working on a downtown plan to rebuild what 1960s urban renewal destroyed. We can recommend the Triton Museum of Art (it’s on the same street as the stadium, and 10 minutes by car); fittingly, it’ll be hosting an exhibition titled “Fútbol: The Art of the Game,” and boasts a nice sculpture garden. If its open hours work with your schedule, the epic amusement park and waterpark Great America sits right next to the stadium—however, of all six game days it is only open on Sunday, June 14.
Generally, you’ll want to head to neighbor city San Jose. It’s only five miles away and offers a ton of fun things along with that walkable downtown with lots of restaurants. We personally love the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and the Winchester Mystery House. If you’re coming from far away, you’ll definitely want to build a few days into your schedule to explore San Francisco. You can’t go to the “San Francisco Bay Area Stadium” and not get a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge! Here’s our list of great ways to while away time in the city.
What about fan festivals and watch parties?
If just want to hang out with others and watch the games, there are more than 30 fan zones and watch parties sprinkled across the entire Bay Area. There are six in San Francisco (including Chase Center, China Basin Park, Pier 39, Yerba Buena Lane, the Midway and the Crossing at East Cut), six in East Bay cities, six in the South Bay (including the Bay Area Host Committee’s Opening Weekend with San Jose Earthquakes at San Pedro Square in San Jose), three in the North Bay, five on the peninsula and two in Santa Cruz. Whew! All of these fan zones are free.
Of course, plenty of sports bars will be tuning into coverage, too. If they’re not showing the FIFA matches, you will have to wrest control of the remote control, change the channel and get everyone to sing “Olé, Olé, Olé” with you.
By the way, what does FIFA actually stand for?
Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which translates to International Federation of Association Football. Why do we call it soccer when the rest of the world calls it football? According to Britannica, soccer is actually a British word and was a nickname used to distinguish football from rugby. Americans developed our own game which borrowed components from both English football and rugby, and called it gridiron football (today, just football), so then we had to call that foot-based game something different to avoid confusion and landed on soccer.
