Reading FIFA Fan Zone on 7/18 & 7/19

A preview of the FIFA Fan Zone festivities in Reading, PA lined up for the 7/18 and 7/19 World Cup Soccer 2026 final matches.

With Mark Ratcliffe, Reading FIFA Fan Zone Event Coordinator, Alex Civil, Founder & Executive Director of Bring the Change, and Berks County Commissioner Dante Santoni.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hi, I'm Burks County Commissioner Dante Santoni, and welcome to this this month's edition of County Connections. That intro is a little bit different than we usually have, and we're going to talk a little bit about why. That's sugar ray for those of you that aren't cool, like we are. But we're going to talk a little bit about that, some of the entertainment that's forthcoming. But this month's we're going to talk about soccer, the fan zone in Reading, and everything related to football, as it's properly called around the rest of the world, but here in the U.S. it's called soccer and the World Cup and all the things that are associated with all of that. With me, my guests for this month, are Alex Sibyl. Alex is the executive director of Bring the Change. And he's also involved with the fan zone as the soccer tournament director. And I know Alex, you're going to talk a little bit about that, but welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

And to his left is Mark Radcliffe, who is the event coordinator of the fill of the Reading Fan Zone. He's been very active in the community and in events like this, and he's really been helpful with regards to this event. So uh thank you, thank you as well, Mark, for being on the show. Uh let's dive right back, let's dive right into it. Let's talk about uh what what we're having here in Reading. I know that we've had uh a couple of days of events that we can talk about as well, but we have some some big some big big days coming up. Uh July 18th and 19th, sat this coming weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Uh the fan zone's really gonna kick up. We're gonna be watching some soccer. But before we get into that, I don't know any either of you can can talk a little bit about how this came to be, what what what uh uh what was the what was the start of it and how Reading became a fan zone.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah. So uh I think this started a couple years ago when it looked like the US and Philly specifically was going to get uh the FIFA matches there. And uh what's traditional around the FIFA games is are these fan zones. And we were lucky to be one of three fan zones in Pennsylvania, the other is Scranton and then Pittsburgh. So to be in that company is really nice, and I think we uh are really fortunate to be one of the designated official fan zones.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Yeah, and and there's the Philadelphia also has a big fan zone down there. Uh, we had an opportunity to go down there and see that early on. Um but I think I think the impetus of this with Governor Shapiro to his credit and and visit PA uh wanted not just Philadelphia to enjoy the uh the the fruits of of the World Cup, but also communities in in Pennsylvania. And as you said, Mark, Reading was one of three cities along with Scranton Pittsburgh and uh and us with with having these designated fan zones. We've been working a lot with with FIFA uh Philadelphia. But Alex, maybe you could talk a little bit about. I know that you actually not just played soccer, but you followed your you talk a little bit about where where you're from and your interest in soccer, and I know you traveled and following the team. So talk a little bit about the impact of what the World Cup meant to not just here in Reading but throughout the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Yes. Um thank you for that question, actually. The the World Cup, I think one of the things that soccer does really uh around the world is bringing people together and unifying communities. Um myself, I was lucky enough, uh uh I'm a huge soccer fan. I started playing since I was five, played all the way to college at Penn State, and um I started basically following the World Cup. So 2014 I was in Brazil for the World Cup, and then 2022 went to Qatar to to watch that. But I'm originally from Haiti, so um 20, I was believed like it was in France, the Haitian team made it like the girl team on under 20. So I went to France to watch them and Qatar last year to watch the under 17. So I've had a plenty of chances to travel around the world and see different fan zones and watch the game live. And I'll tell you the emotions. Even this year, I was in Boston, I was in Philly a few times watching games. I'll tell you the feeling that you have, the atmosphere that we have, the camaraderie, the friendship, that really makes you realize how great sports can actually really unite. And mostly something like soccer, how great really that can that can really impact the community. I mean, you have heard stories of um Boston basically. Well, I was in Boston where the Scottish basically like drink all of the beers in the in town. So um I was at that game, and I think that explains why they were so friendly, right? Um but it's this sort of really beauty that we are looking to bring into Reading. So um bringing people from all creeds, all different ages, and um we'll talk a little bit more about some of the programs that we'll be doing inside of the Centendio and also outside of the Centendios coming up.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Yeah, you talked about the the Scottish taking over Boston and drinking all their beer. I like to tell the stories of of of two teams that played in Philadelphia, the Ecuadorians and the Brazilians. And uh I'm I'm a big Philadelphia sports fan, and Rocky's this Rocky statue stands at the top of the art museum, and the Ecuadorians didn't I guess they didn't know the jinx that that could happen, but they put one of their jerseys on Rocky and they ended up losing because there's specific football teams and and and like the Dallas Cowboys that put their jersey on Rocky and then the Eagles Eagles would beat them. But they they they put their jersey on and they lost, and then Brazil took over the steps when they played, but they had they had a partition around Rocky, they weren't let it get near it, and of course they won. So that I mean that's just some of the great stories that you hear uh as you said, uh getting around the country and and and hearing about uh the camaraderie. I know that in the U.S. we need to do better with with embracing the sport of soccer, and we are, and hopefully we will as this as we move forward. Um but just the the the rest of the world has uh the Norwegians were in the U.S. and there's stories about how how they embraced their communities that they were in and and all of that. So I think uh I think that's really, really important. Um okay, so we were designated four days. We had to pick four by uh FIFA Philadelphia, and maybe Mark, you can talk about our relationship with them in a minute. So we had to pick four days. We picked July 3rd, 4th, 18th, and 19th. Um, and then there was entertainment involved. So maybe you can talk about our relationship, how we got involved with FIFA Philadelphia, who we've been working with, you've been working with as well. And and our visitors bureau has also done a terrific job here locally as well. So maybe you can just expound on that a little bit if you would.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Sure. I mean, my history of doing events started in West Reading and doing a number of events in West Reading. I technically retired. Uh we drug you back out, sorry about that. Two years ago, but uh Heather Zimmerman from the Visitors Bureau reached out, and she's been instrumental in working to bring this into town along with the City of Reading and and uh Jack Gombach. So uh it's been a collaborative effort for sure, uh, getting this into town. And uh the host in Philly is called Philly Soccer, and they are the ones that uh did a lot of the fundraising and uh were able to provide us with the dollars to be able to support what we're doing, which a big part of that is renting the arena out and offering that for free for people to come into the arena. So I think that's huge. We'll have six big screen TVs in the arena, and uh then Alex is uh coordinated some soccer tournaments inside the arena, which is great, and those are kind of winding down with the final tournament on the 19th and a trophy, I believe. So, right, that's gonna be big, and that's happening uh before the games uh and uh possibly after uh the games on uh both the 18th and 19th. Uh the arena uh the games in the arena will be at 5 p.m. on the 18th and 3 p.m. on the 19th. Uh and then the arena opens up about an hour or so prior to those games. So people do need to get tickets to go into the arena, and uh they can get those at experienceberks.com and there's a uh World Cup link on there.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

And and and just so people know those tickets are free, but you still have to register in order to get into in order to get into the fan zone. The writing arena is what it's called. Yeah um Mark mentioned a little bit about the about some of the tournaments, the soccer tournaments, and I know that one of the one of the focuses we try to make sure that the community is involved to get the word out to our community to our soccer, to our soccer leagues, etc. Talk about your uh if you would, uh your involvement in that and what's happening and where we're heading.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yes, uh well I've basically made in reaching out to a few different groups locally. Um there's the raiding cycle league, there's uh Copanweva was doing their work, um, and um last year we also hosted uh Berg Sacker Mondial. So it I really wanted to give people a little taste of what the World Cup is like. So what we're organizing, it's a mini World Cup right here inside of the Centende. Um we're gonna have different teams from the Africans, basically European teams, um, Central American teams presenting um Ecuador, um, Ghana is gonna be there basically representing um the Haitian team is gonna be there. So it's different folks coming in, and there's uh there's of course gonna be an American team competing to actually get medals and get the trophy. So we'll have a sense of a feeling, and you can come in and cheer your team. So I'm inviting everyone who's here, bringing your flags, bringing your jerseys, come out and have a great time. But um, most importantly, we will also have a kids' clinic, right? So we understand soccer might come and go away, but we really want our community to sort of really like get something left over. And I think the next generation, mostly with this coming up here in Reading, it's crucial that we get the kids involved. So we are running clinics on both days. Um, so I'm asking everybody to please bring your kids. There's also a link online where that you can actually do it. It's also in all of our social media where you can sign up your kids. If you don't get a chance to sign them up, you can still bring them the day off on Saturday and Sunday, and then we'll be able to just get them to come down for about an hour clinic. And each kid will be getting a medal and will actually take home one of those beautiful soccer balls. So this is a small replica of the actual soccer um ball that you know they are actually playing for the for at the tournament. So it's a chance to get the kids involved, uh, get a little taste of soccer, and um ensuring that there's something left after the World Cup.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

So the the tournament, uh the clinic is for young kids. What are the ages, Alex, for the tournament for the clinic and also for the tournaments? The tournament for all ages or the tournament, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

The tournament will be open for all ages. So um from 18 to 50, 60, 70 is, and the folks who want to participate, it's open for everyone. But with the kids' clinic, basically you go on um from like three years old all the way to like the 15, 16, and then we'll break them down into different ages. So there'll be different categories working on different skills set um so they can actually have. So if they don't have soccer jerseys, we're bringing soccer pennies that we could actually have them wear on top of um whatever uniform, whatever jersey they might have on, and um so they could actually be part of a team and again enjoy the sports.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Well you look like you're ready to play. I think he's always ready to play. I know, yeah. Yep. Um okay, the dates. 18th and 19th. Let's let's talk about what's happening during the and of course mention what the street where we're gonna be and the streets that are blocked off, et cetera, outside, which we all know it's a Santan there, but because of licensing reasons, we has to be called the Reading Arena. Um but there's a lot a lot of things happening. Of course, you mentioned the games inside. Saturday is the third place game. That starts at 5 p.m., correct? And then Sunday is the World Cup final. Um one of the teams in the World Cup final, as we know, as as of this taping, is is Spain. Now tonight, tonight the other team will be determined between Argentina and Switzerland. Argentina's favorite, am I correct? Argentina and England.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

England. England, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

They beat they so Argentina beat Switzerland. England and England and uh and Argentina in in a big battle tonight.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

So who do you got? I I will go for I will go for England. And the reason I'm gonna use Messi Finn, but the reason why it's um Argentina has been the World Cup in the past two World Cup finals. So um England hasn't made the World Cup final until like 66. So um being the birthright of Psycho, really, I think it'll be great too. And that they have a wonderful new generation coming in, a great mix of of young and and uh um basically more experienced players. Uh I think they can they can really create an upset.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

I think uh Argentina hopefully has nine lives. And uh I think they've used eight of them, so we'll see what happens. And they're the defending and they're the defending champions. They are.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

I'm thinking maybe, you know, 250 years ago England came over here and and they lost. So maybe 250 years later they can come to the U.S. and win. That would be sort of a payoff. We love England, of course. Um but there's a lot of opportunity for some for some big games. And as I said, inside there's gonna be an opportunity. You said six screens uh to watch the games inside. There's gonna be activities inside. Uh Mark, maybe you want to talk about there's gonna be a lot going on outside as well. There is um entertainment, games, uh beer tent, etc. Why don't you expound on that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, so everything kicks off at uh 11 o'clock. Uh and at 12 o'clock on the main stage, there's Mariachi Terra Mia, which is a great Hispanic band that'll be kicking things off on the 18th. Uh and then the big act that day is called the Main Squeeze. That'll be at 3:30 p.m. uh until 5. And then uh, you know, everybody will go inside and watch the final, and that should be an amazing game. Or not the final, but the uh third place, excuse me. Uh so that should be a lot of fun. We also have a second stage with uh some great acts on that. And uh we've got bounce houses and soccer kicks and face painting for the kids. So if the kids come out and support Alex's uh tournament, they can also have a lot of fun doing other activities as well. So there's gonna be a lot going on. We also have uh around 30 vendors that'll be out during the day, a number of great food vendors, and then you mentioned a beer garden, which will be at the Double Tree Hotel, and we have a huge 14-foot by eight-foot screen TV inside the beer garden to uh watch both of those games. So there's a lot of activity and should be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

You talked about some of the entertainment um um that on Saturday, yeah. And I know that that's gonna be uh that that's gonna be fun. Let let's uh let's get into the music that came on to as we entered the show today. Uh there's some big names coming up on Sunday, which of course is gonna be the big not that Saturday's not important, it is. We want people to come out and enjoy themselves. Um but talk but talk about where we're gonna be. I want I wanted you to mention like uh where where this is. I know many people might know it, but let's talk about uh what's happening here at downtown Ready.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Right. So the event, a majority of the event is happening between the Double Tree Hotel and the Arena. So they're in the 700 block uh Penn Avenue, and then we'll also be in the 600 block with a lot of kids' activities and and things going on down there, which is great. There are two amazing bands and some really great DJs on the 19th as well. Axe and the Hatchet Man uh is an up-and-coming young band. They have a national hit out right now. I they're gonna be on the Tonight Show coming up. I mean, they're really up and coming and and amazing. And then to cap off the evening, uh, once the final ends around 5 30, we're guessing, uh, we've got Sugar Ray, which uh was the music we heard coming in, and it's a free concert and should be absolutely unbelievable. I can't wait for uh for that. That should be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

That'll be that'll be happening. I um I I I want to stress, and we talk we talked about it's free to get in, the activities and all the things outside are are free. Uh so we we want people to we want people to come downtown uh as much. And uh your other activities you might be involved with on Saturday and Sunday, Alex if you want to talk about those.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Definitely. I mean there's there's two great points I wanna I wanna um stress out as well also to everyone coming in. It's uh there will be free parking, correct? Yes. So we're still doing that. One of the um things I usually hear is that oh, I don't know where to park. Well, um there'll be free parking in the city basically. And Mark, you can just just tell folks exactly where. Um so you'll be able to park basically walk uh a couple blacks or walk right straight basically to inside to the little room.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

You know where they can park? Anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Anywhere in the city. So parking garages. Everything's free. Parking garages, everything. Okay, okay, that's perfect. So I don't like that. So um again, no excuses not to come out and um spend some time, some quality time with the family in community, watch the game together, have some drinks, get the kids to run around, and um learn a little bit about soccer, living with a meadow, living with a soccer ball. Um there's so many different things basically that we uh we will be doing. I know, like last week or the two weeks ago, I bought my own daughter, right? Um she was a balanceering and helping out. Um we ended up spinning a little bit, but it was it was fun, it was cool. She had a great time and definitely she wanted to do it again. So it's really a great uh joy. It was a joy for me to watch her running along and playing soccer with all of the other parks. So um fun thing. And aside from that point, basically, um the soccer tournament is gonna start around like 11-ish, basically, inside of the of the um Centre. And you can go back and forth, right? Um I would go outside. Cool thing is like actually the Centendia is really cool. So we have AC inside of the Centendia. Um, it will be really temperature-wise, perfect temperature, where you can sit down if you want to catch a breath, if you want a little nice of like cool air. Go inside, take some cool air, chill a little bit, and then you go back outside, watch some of the sports. So it's a lot of fun things happening this weekend, and that's for people of all ages. So really encourage everyone to come out from young to mid-age to older and uh enjoy a great five-minute time.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Absolutely. Um, and the weather's gonna be a lot nicer this this week. I know that there were we were July 3rd and 4th, as many of us experienced uh across the county. It was it was we were in a heat dome, I guess they called it, uh, and that was a challenge. Some of the bands were struggling with with doing their with doing their work, etc. So um it looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day. And there's gonna be less competition, less activities around the county. July 4th, of course, was it was our 250th anniversary, was a lot happening. So um I mean maybe talk a little bit more about some of the activity. I mean, you you went talked about some of the big bands, but that's not all that we have. There's gonna be things happening from what 11 a.m. till 11 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

soccer games over. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Uh, you know, we've got DJ Q Ball and uh DJ Evolution and uh uh DJ Johnny V who's been around forever. Uh Nilu Sky is great, DJ Houdini. We've got a number of really great acts out there. Um so I think it's gonna be fun. I I do want to say a big thank you to the city of Reading for helping support what we're doing here. Uh Mayor Moran has been fantastic, and Jack Gumbok, uh everybody on their team has been great to work with, and I think uh, you know, thanks to the city, this is gonna be an amazing event.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Yeah. I I mean uh we we should mention all all the partners that were involved. Um, of course, FIFA Philadelphia was was our was our leader, but you guys have done a terrific job in your organizations, and and Mark, we thank you for coming out of retirement to help us with this. We really need it.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

And uh Fulton Bank. Fulton Bank is a uh you know partnership. And East Penn Manufacturing has been huge, and of course the uh visitors bureau.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Experienced Reading and Burks has done a great job. Heather Zimmerman and her team has been terrific. As you said, the city, uh the county's played a small role. Um, so we're really happy uh and excited about what's what's what's forthcoming. Um we just have a few minutes left. Um anything else we want to we want to let may let our viewers know. You know, get out here, enjoy yourself, free parking, uh free registration, lots of activities for the kids. It's gonna be a great, it's gonna be a great weekend in the city of Reading, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yes, definitely. Um again, I think it's as we mentioned, it's it's been a community effort, really, in a sense, with all of those partners and and and people and entities coming together to make this happen. But um keep in mind the World Cup is the biggest, largest sports event in the world. And having Reading, Burks County in general, basically on the map, being a part of that, participating in that is good. So we did our very best to put uh some amazing acts and um actions for you guys, for the community. As we are trying to do the planning, I think it's crucial that the community also come and be part of it. So um inviting again everybody to come out, uh really celebrate, enjoy this moment. But also, one of those things we have a lot of free giveaways. So all of those folks who are coming in, if I've been a huge um Panini enthusiastic, trying to really collect those things, all of the stickers back in the days. So it was really like going back to my childhood. When I saw that earlier, everybody got a free Panini book, right? You have one of those free small low like soccer, free sunglasses. There's a lot of free giveaways that um that are waiting for you. So come and take advantage of that, bring in the family, have a good time. And again, inside of the stadium also, inside of the Centennial Arena of the Reading Arena, we're also gonna have a DJ playing music. So there's DJ inside, DJ outside. Uh you will not get enough of entertainment. That is guaranteed, and I look forward to seeing each and every one this upcoming weekend.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Yeah, I I mean I think I think it's uh of course, soccer is the number one sport uh around the world. Um I I saw I heard a statistic, and uh and our American viewers might appreciate this. The Super Bowl is the most watched TV event every year. It's about watched by about 300 million. That's also not just in the U.S. It's it's there's some viewership around the world. But the World Cup Soccer Final is is watched by one billion people, and I that's probably a a low estimate. So uh it's going to be exciting. It's going to I I mean, I wasn't I wasn't raised a soccer fan, as I told you guys before, uh, but I I've got the I've got the bug. I I missed the that England beat Switzerland. I didn't know that. That that slipped my mind. Because I have the brackets like I do for the March Madness, and I'm filling them out. But uh it's been really exciting and and and I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Uh again, thank you both for all the work that you did in bringing this along with the other organizations that we mentioned. Uh, we want to make this an exciting weekend. Uh hopefully the weather will cooperate. We looked at it and it is going to, so uh we'll uh we'll look forward to uh anything else?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Anything you want to end with? Just looking really looking forward to showing off our great city uh and having people come down. Everything's free except for food and drink.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Come enjoy all of that. Uh the games, the excitement, the entertainment inside and out, the beer garden if you if you so desire. Uh we really look forward to seeing a lot of you uh in the city of Reading July 18th and 19th uh at FIFA fan zone here in the city of Reading. Uh thanks you to Alex Sibyl and to Mark Radcliffe for being on the show this this month. I'm Burks County Commissioner Dante Santoni. Thank you for watching this month's edition of County Connections, and we'll see you next time.