Philly brings the noise to mark the 100-day countdown before kickoff of the FIFA World Cup
Hundreds of fans stood in line to receive free merchandise — including shirts, hats, flags, and commemorative miniature posters at an event Tuesday emceed by Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham.
The World Cup is just 100 days away.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia Soccer 2026, in conjunction with the city, officially launched the “How do you Phan?” campaign at the Comcast Technology Center Concourse to commemorate the milestone.
The event, emceed by Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham, featured performances by the Universal African Dance and Drum group — along with appearances by Philadelphia mascots Swoop, Gritty, and Phang.
“Let’s get an E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles real quick,” Graham said to open the event. “We’ve got a hundred days till the World Cup comes to our city. I hope y’all are all ready. Today, we got to get hype, this is a big event.”
Ready to be a fan?
Hundreds of fans stood in line to receive free merchandise — including shirts, hats, flags, and commemorative miniature posters — before remarks from Michelle Singer, the senior vice president of Comcast, and Megan Kane, the chief executive for the Philadelphia Soccer 2026 host committee.
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“This is exactly the kind of energy the world will experience when they come [to] Philadelphia this summer,” Singer said to an excited crowd. “As co-chair of Philadelphia Soccer 2026, I have the great privilege of working alongside an amazing team across the city and throughout Pennsylvania to prepare for one of the largest global events in the world.
“We know six matches will be hosted at the Linc will have a tremendous impact on our city. But what makes the World Cup even more powerful is the opportunity to showcase who we are as a city.”
After Philadelphia Soccer 2026 live premiered their “How Do You Phan” campaign video, Kane highlighted the eight known teams set to compete in Philadelphia — Brazil, France, Croatia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Haiti, and Curaçao — and encouraged fans to embrace each country’s culture, food, and even football chants.
Kane, who helped plan Philadelphia’s Papal visit in 2015, directed the crowd to Philadelphia Soccer 2026’s website for recently released “tool kits” that teach Philadelphians how to be fans of the incoming teams.
“We need to get ready in Philly,” Kane said. “We need to have a rooting interest. We love when we are watching a sporting event, and we want a winner. Like we’re rooting for someone. A great story, a great player, a great team. We have done it for all of our teams.
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The Flyers, the Sixers, the Union, the Eagles, the Phillies — we’ve done it all. We brought the bedlam to the bank. We have shown everything about our sports passion and our fandom and that’s why today, it’s about bringing our energy to the global stage.”
Man of the people
If you are unfamiliar with soccer, the sport, don’t worry — so is Graham.
After the event, Graham stuck around briefly to take photos and talk with fans, mentioning his partial favoritism for the Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) national team, but also admitting his unfamiliarity with the sport.
“No,” he said when questioned on if he grew up a fan of soccer. “Just played FIFA on the game, that’s as close as I got.”
Despite his unfamiliarity, Graham is still excited to learn what is in store for this summer.
“I came to the [Premier League matches] when it was at the Linc,” Graham said. “That was cool, and now, I can’t wait to see what it’s all about.”
Next steps
There is still plenty to do before the first kickoff of World Cup matches in Philly, when Ivory Coast opens what will be the first of five group stage games against Ecuador on June 14 (7 p.m., FS1).
Philadelphia Soccer 2026 and the city of Philadelphia are still ironing out safety and transportation plans, according to Kane, while simultaneously working with FIFA to get Lincoln Financial Field up to shape ahead of the games,
On top of it all, Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is looking to announce updates regarding their free Fan Festival, set to be hosted at Lemon Hill in Philadelphia’s Brewerytown neighborhood, in the coming weeks.
“The Lemon Hill and FIFA fan festival is a key component of our planning,” Kane said. “So really focused on that and getting ready to hopefully make some announcements about what people can expect at Lemon Hill in the coming weeks. It’s going to be an incredible event. It’s going to be one of those spectacular, unexpected moments of the tournament for people who live here and for visitors alike.”
According to Kane, the city plans to invest $5.2 million into the park ahead of the World Cup, which will be partially spent on ADA accessible ramps, better lighting, paved walkways, and an improved playground noted as “quality of life improvements.”
“I think that one of the things that has been so incredibly heartening and productive around the planning is that the city really leaned in with Philadelphia soccer 2026 around community engagement and hearing from the community about their concerns,” Kane said. “But also, their hopes for the park. It is a beautiful park, and one that has not necessarily been invested in over the last 40 years. So for us, it’s exciting that we’re able to put some preliminary infrastructure in that is going to allow us to host this festival there.”