In less than a month, the Austrian National Soccer Team will arrive and stay in Goleta during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The city was selected as a World Cup host city, which means the team, Österreichische Fußballnationalmannschaft, will practice at UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium and stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara throughout the tournament.

The team was originally going to fly into the Santa Barbara Airport but now will fly into Los Angeles International Airport, according to City of Goleta spokeswoman Kelly Hoover.

On Tuesday, city staff shared with the Goleta City Council events that are planned for June and July for residents to participate in World Cup-related festivities. World Cup games will be played all over North America, including in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

On June 5, UCSB will host a community training session at Harder Stadium. The council members were excited about that since in January, when city staff applied for Goleta to be a host city, they advocated for events that allow residents to meet or observe the team. 

At that January meeting, the Goleta City Council also committed funds for law enforcement, per the host city agreement’s requirement.

The free event will offer about 2,500 tickets that will be distributed to specific groups in Goleta, including local soccer clubs, according to Blake Markum, a City of Goleta management analyst.

“(This is an) opportunity for attendees to see Team Austria up close before they move on to the first stage of the competition,” Markum said.

Councilman James Kyriaco and Councilwoman Luz Reyes-Martín encouraged city staff to also promote the training event in Old Town Goleta. 

“There are so many kids in our community that are soccer- or fútbol-loving kids who are not part of a club, so making sure that they know about it and have the opportunity to participate would also be fantastic,” Reyes-Martín said. 

Additionally, residents soon will start to see banners on light posts welcoming the team to Goleta. 

Team representatives visited Goleta in March to meet with city staff and leadership. 

Reyes-Martín said the team is excited and grateful they get to stay in the Good Land. 

“The whole time I spent with them, they talked about how friendly our community was (and) how welcoming. They were truly blown away,” she said. 

The city also will host various free watch parties for residents to watch some of the World Cup soccer matches.

The first watch party will be at 5:30 p.m. June 12 at the Goleta Community Center, 5679 Hollister Ave., as the United States National Team faces off against the Paraguay National Team.

Attendees will be able to watch a livestream of the game in the auditorium, and there will be activities and free food from a local food truck vendor, city staff said. 

Similar events are scheduled for June 14 and June 24 in Old Town Goleta. 

There will be “block party-style” events held in the Community West Bank parking lot on Pine Avenue with activities, local vendors and livestreams of the games on those two days. 

Another watch party is tentatively slated for July 19 for the World Cup final, also at the Goleta Community Center. 

However, Markum said he isn’t sure how excited the community will be for that event.

City staff instead might plan a watch party for a semifinal game, but that depends on how the competition progresses, he said.