Fans pack FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill during World Cup’s opening weekend

Crowds of Ecuadorian supporters lined the FIFA Fan Festival inside Lemon Hill park Sunday during the Group E clash between Ecuador and Ivory Coast at Lincoln Financial Field Sunday evening.

The Ivorian team is calling the Philadelphia region home for the World Cup, but Ecuador had an advantage in the 23 acres of festival grounds.

The festival, free and open to the public, streamed three of the day’s matches to a global crowd. Alongside Ecuador, supporters of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Ivory Coast and Curaçao watched their teams compete from the festival grounds.

The festival ended its night with the first match of Philadelphia’s World Cup schedule, a 1-0 win for Ivory Coast.

» READ MORE: ‘They fought, we won’: Ivory Coast’s World Cup win against Ecuador kicks off FIFA in Philly

Festival organizers declined to give a specific count for the number of people that entered the 15,000-person capacity festival grounds in its first weekend of operations, but organizers did say tens of thousands of fans have passed through the festival gates since they opened Thursday.

“People have come, and they’ve been blown away by what we’ve accomplished out here,” Michael DelBene, the festival’s executive producer, said. “The energy is high, the crowds are big, the food is delicious, and the matches are great. We think we’re off to a great start.”

Hosting a crowd of fans for the first World Cup match in Philadelphia’s history was a checkpoint for festival organizers, but there’s little time for them to reflect on the three-year planning process that led to this point.

Philadelphia’s Fan Festival is the only festival open for all 39 days of the tournament. It will be back open on Monday for three matches, beginning with Spain-Cape Verde at noon.

Putting on the 39-day festival has its challenges, but DelBene said he would not mind if the festival was open for 100 days.

“The transformation of staring at a blank piece of paper to standing in the middle of the site and looking around at what we managed to build and create for our city and its guests is the most rewarding thing,” DelBene said. “That’s why I do what I do.”

The festival has had to contend with high temperatures through its opening weekend. Philly experienced record highs on Thursday before seeing thunderstorms that led festival organizers to move up the scheduled Luis Fonsi concert to beat the storms.

Hot and humid conditions continued throughout the weekend, and more storms loomed over the region as Ecuador and Ivory Coast kicked off at the Linc on Sunday night.

DelBene said public safety is a top priority for the festival, and pointed to Thursday’s scheduling change as evidence.

“If we can’t do it safely, we just won’t do it,” DelBene said. “We have comprehensive public safety and security plans when it comes to logistics, when it comes to heat, when it comes to rain and lightning, and we’ve had to exercise those plans already … Those things have gone smoothly, so we feel like we’re prepared.”

Fortunately for the Fan Festival and its organizers, the rain held off and the festival was able to host crowds for all three games it showed on Sunday and a few live music performances, including a concert from Ecuadorian singer-songwriter Johann Vera.

Ecuadorian fans announced their arrival to Philadelphia by wrapping the Rocky statue outside the Art Museum in a bright yellow Ecuadorian jersey on Saturday.

Fans of La Tri continued to have a strong presence on Sunday, filling the Fan Festival with yellow, blue and red.

“They are a passionate fan base, and just wonderful, incredible people,” DelBene said. “We are just so excited to have them here in Philadelphia.”

Matt McKee was not one of the many native Ecuadorians on the festival grounds Sunday evening, but the resident of East Falls was cheering on Ecuador, sporting a jersey he bought on a trip there in 2012.

McKee said he was impressed with Ecuador’s presence throughout Philadelphia this weekend, especially considering its relatively small population, as compared with the other South American nations in the tournament.

“A ton of yellow, even earlier today in Center City,” McKee said. “You saw yellow shirts everywhere. It’s an impressive showing for not that large of a South American country.”

The Fan Festival had a celebrity fan on Sunday, too. Sixers center Adem Bona strolled through the festival Sunday afternoon during Germany’s defeat of Curaçao.

Ivorian fans were harder to spot, despite the team playing two games at Lincoln Financial Field and setting up its training base in Chester.

The nation is included on the Trump administration’s travel ban, which made it more difficult for native Ivorian fans to obtain travel visas and enter the U.S.

Still, some fans have adopted the Ivorian team, which is the only team scheduled to play twice in Philadelphia during the group stage. They were rewarded Sunday as Amad Diallo netted a 90th minute winner for Les Éléphants.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia was the star in its men’s World Cup debut

Naseef Sami, a lifelong fan of Germany, had traveled from Williamsport, Pa. to attend his first World Cup match. He stopped at the Fan Festival to watch the Germans dominate Curaçao, 7-1, in Sunday’s first game.

Sami said he valued soccer’s ability to bridge between cultures. He conversed with two Ecuadorian fans as they waited on the draw between Japan and the Netherlands to kick off.

“Especially in the current political environment, to see that happening right now,” Sami said. “People have all sorts of colors, all sorts of jerseys, it doesn’t really matter … [It is] cool to talk to people from all different places.”

The World Cup in Philly

Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches this summer, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries — and what those fans need to know about Philly. Click here for more.