The World Cup has landed, and even though Montreal isn’t a host city, you would never know it from the noise spilling out of the city’s bars and cafés. With 48 teams, 104 matches and a fan base that looks like a United Nations of jerseys, there is no shortage of places to catch the action between now and July 19. Here is your guide to watching the beautiful game around town.

📊 Want live scores while you read? Our World Cup 2026 hub has real-time results, group standings, the full match schedule and the tournament’s biggest moments, all updated daily as things unfold.

🍻 Best bars and cafés for match day

Montreal’s soccer culture runs deep, and certain rooms turn electric the moment the whistle blows. A few of the liveliest, by neighbourhood:

Plateau-Mont-Royal

  • Bar L’Barouf on St-Denis, where France supporters routinely spill out into the street.
  • Bar St-Laurent Frappé on Saint-Laurent, ground zero for Portugal and Brazil fans.
  • Les Enfants du Rock on Mont-Royal Avenue, soccer and rock tunes in equal measure.

Mile End

  • Café Club Social on St-Viateur, an Italian café that doubles as one of the best soccer rooms in town (and steps from St-Viateur Bagel).
  • Café Olimpico, where great espresso and great football collide.
  • Bishop & Bagg, a cozy country-pub vibe and a favourite for England fans.

Little Italy

  • Caffè Italia, buzzing despite Italy missing out this year because the love of the game runs deep here.
  • Bruno Sport Bar, authentic and unpretentious.
  • Caffè San Simeon, as good for people-watching as match-watching.

Downtown and Little Burgundy

  • Pub Burgundy Lion on Notre-Dame, the rowdy official HQ for England fans in Montreal.
  • Station des Sports on Sainte-Catherine, a multiscreen soccer dream.
  • La Cage, with big rooms near the Bell Centre and in the Quartier des Spectacles.

🎉 Fan zones and big-screen parties

Prefer your football outdoors and surrounded by a crowd? The city has you covered:

  • Fan Fest FIFA 2026 at First Fridays (July 3 and 4, Olympic Park Esplanade), matches on big screens alongside Canada’s largest street-food gathering.
  • Taste of the Caribbean Soccer Fiesta (July 9 to 12, Clock Tower Quay, Old Port), a free four-day fiesta with live music, food and kids’ zones.
  • Féria de Montréal x Fête nationale française (July 11), a 400-person fan zone for the quarter-finals with live music and family activities.
  • Le Québec devient soccer at the Grande Bibliothèque, an outdoor big-screen broadcast with skills demos and live music.
  • Maison France-Montréal is hosting a series of watch parties for several nations, and the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal is organizing viewing parties for Scotland’s matches.

🇨🇦 Cheering for Canada

Canada already made history this tournament, grinding out a 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina at BMO Field to earn the first World Cup point in the nation’s history. Keep an eye on the live standings to see how far they can go.

📅 Keep the schedule in your pocket

Whichever team you’re flying the flag for, bookmark our World Cup 2026 page for scores, group tables and the day-by-day schedule. The soccer fever pitch has officially expanded to include Montreal, so get off the sidelines and into the game. ⚽