The World Cup had a spectacular Toronto finale Thursday night, with two legends squaring off in an all-time thriller that turned into a downtown block party for Portuguese fans. It was a fitting cap to three walks of soccer excitement that showcased the best of the city.
Buses and streetcars kept moving, the temporary stands didn’t collapse and the vibes were great through all six World Cup matches Toronto hosted.
That alone would have been a success story given some of the skepticism surrounding the city’s hosting gig beforehand. But the highs turned out to be at least as elevated as the ticket prices.
Yes, there’s lot’s of soccer left. But with Toronto’s hosting duties fulfilled, let’s look back at the city’s best World Cup moments.
Les Rouges’ first World Cup point
While excitement was high heading into the first match in Toronto, there were some concerns.
BMO Field was too small. Ticket prices were unaffordable for most locals . Hotel bookings weren’t up, which led to questions about the economic benefits. To make matters worse, the city was scrambling at the last minute to work out logistics.
It was hard not to be a little anxious.
But by the time Alanis Morisette sang O Canada at a sunny Toronto Stadium on June 12, the worries had blown away with the breeze from Lake Ontario. The World Cup had come to Canada for the first time — and the atmosphere was electric.
For hours before the start of the game between Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the city was abuzz. Soccer fans marched through the streets as the eyes of the city and, indeed, the country turned toward the pitch in downtown Toronto.
CBC’s Lane Harrison walked with fans cheering on Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead of the first Toronto FIFA World Cup 2026 game on Friday.
Fans of both teams would have something to cheer about that day.
Bosnia-Herzegovina scored early and held off the Canadians well into the second half. Then, with 12 minutes remaining and Canadian fans growing restless, Canadian Cyle Larin sent a hard strike into the back of the net — and the hometown crowd erupted.
The match ended in a draw, which secured Canada’s first-ever point at a World Cup. It was a huge accomplishment for a country that, on the men’s side, had for years been considered a non-entity in international soccer.
Canada’s national men’s soccer team recorded their first-ever point at the FIFA World Cup against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday. CBC’s Michelle Song speaks with Toronto residents, business owners and soccer experts about what this milestone means for the city.
Ronaldo strikes and Portugal prevails
Down 1-0, Portugal’s fans roared as they were awarded a penalty kick in the final match hosted in Toronto.
Cristiano Ronaldo stepped to the spot, stuttered-stepped and blasted a shot into the net to send a nervous crowd into a delirious joy.
Portugal’s second goal proved to be the winner that kept Ronaldo’s World Cup career alive, but it’s likely that moment — the icon scoring a crucial goal in front of throngs of Portuguese fans at Toronto Stadium — will be talked about in Little Portugal for generations to come.
That, and the moment later that evening when Ronaldo came onto the balcony of his downtown hotel, like the pope on Easter Sunday, to wave to the Portuguese faithful celebrating below.
Croatian fans, meanwhile, may never want to revisit this game. Their side had three goals called back, including one impossibly late strike that would have tied things up and sent the game into extra time. It was also likely the final match for their national hero, Luka Modrić.
Every Toronto soccer fan knew the round of 32 match would be the most pressure-packed match in this city. Few could have guessed it would be Portugal and Croatia battling it out in the most dramatic game this city witnessed.
Fan marches bring World Cup flavour to Toronto streets
Then there was the action off the pitch.
The marches to Toronto Stadium were large, loud and inspirational in a city that loves pedestrianized streets but struggles to overcome bureaucratic barriers to achieve them.
Many of the major fan marches started from the west end’s iconic Trinity Bellwoods Park. Throngs of fans marched down Strachan Avenue before turning at the Princes’ Gates toward the stadium.
Toronto Stadium held only 45,000 fans and capacity was limited at FIFA Fan Festival watch parties, but with the marches, the World Cup spilled out onto the city streets for everyone to take in.
Ghanaians go wild in Sankofa Square
When Ghana and Panama met on June 17 for the second match at Toronto Stadium, thousands of Ghanaians packed Sankofa Square downtown to watch it on the big screen.
Despite rain and 95 minutes of scoreless tension, the crowd didn’t thin out. Fans stayed and jumped for joy when Caleb Yirenkyi scored during added time time to clinch victory for Ghana.
World Cup energy builds in Toronto as fans pack Sankofa Square for the city’s second FIFA World Cup match, Ghana vs. Panama. CBC’s Greg Ross speaks with excited fans.
Sankofa Square was also host to a two-day Pan-African festival. It welcomed local African communities and World Cup visitors as three African teams played in Toronto.
Emmanuel Adjei, a Canadian-Ghanaian who came from Brampton, Ont., to watch the game with his family, said the atmosphere was incredible. “We’re always used to just one side of the globe going to the World Cup. So just to have all these different kinds of flavours and, like, African stuff represented just feels amazing,” he said.
Three of Toronto’s five World Cup group-stage matches feature African teams. Local fans and some of Ghana’s soccer stars weigh in on this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience.
While Toronto was chosen as one of 16 North American cities to co-host this year’s World Cup, there was some grumbling about the city getting lesser matches between low-ranked teams.
But what some group matches may have lacked in prestige, they made up for in drama.
More stoppage time theatrics, this time for Germany
Case-in-point: The game between Germany and the Ivory Coast.
The sold-out thriller was the third match held in the city, and the third straight one that featured a dramatic goal late in the game.
The match was tied 1-1 in added time after the Germans had two goals called back in the first half. But in the dying minutes, Deniz Undav netted his second goal of the night to secure the win for Germany.
Germany booked their ticket to the knockout round of the FIFA World Cup on Saturday, coming from behind to defeat Ivory Coast 2-1 at Toronto Stadium. CBC’s Dale Manucdoc has a recap of the match and reaction from fans.
The atmosphere in that contest had been wild from the start, with crowd noise registered at 100 decibels at kickoff. German fan Felix Holtgrav said the Toronto World Cup experience had been fantastic. “I love Toronto. I love the people, I love the different cultures coming together, celebrating together,” he said.
Swimbappé
Last but not least, fans were thrilled about something fishy. Toronto didn’t just host the World Cup, it created its own soccer star — Swimbappé, the oracle goldfish.
Named for French soccer star Kylian Mbappé, the goldfish swam in a tank facing the sidewalk near Wellington and John Streets, with flags for each team placed at either end.
Before each match, Swimbappé predicted which side would win by swimming towards one of the two flags, delighting pedestrians and thousands of social media followers.
Tim Glenn, a creative director at OneMethod, tells The National about the moment their goldfish Swimbappé predicted Canada’s first-ever FIFA World Cup victory over Qatar.
Tim Glenn, one of the members of a group of creative agencies behind Swimbappé, told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that because goldfish have short-term memories, they can’t form biases.
“So his predictions are unimpeachable,” he said.
Metro Morning6:33Meet ‘Swimbappe’
When it comes to World Cup predictions, you can put your faith in many things – a favourite player, country of origin… or a tiny goldfish. The owner of ‘Swimbappe’ the supposed oracle fish.
As of Thursday, about 68 per cent of Swimbappé’s picks had been correct, Glenn said.
He had some doozies though. Swimbappé picked 58th-ranked Saudi Arabia to take down No. 3 Spain, for instance. Spain won 4-0.
But the fish was loyal to his home country. Swimbappé picked Canada to win all of its first four matches. He may have a three-second memory, but he knows his audience.
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