Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today.
Philadelphia can now officially call itself a FIFA World Cup city, after the first of its six games of the 2026 tournament played out on Sunday night, with a late win 1-0 by the Ivory Coast over Group E opponents Ecuador.
The packed stadium of 68,274 fans — shy of the venue’s record attendance for a soccer game — was filled mostly with the yellow jerseys of Ecuador, with small pockets of Côte d’Ivoire orange in places.
Fans of both national teams had made their presence felt in the region. Ecuador supporters took over the “Rocky steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday night, while the Ivory Coast team’s base camp at Chester’s Subaru Park and their hotel in Wilmington had fan events since the squad arrived in the U.S. Ivory Coast had not been in the last two editions of the World Cup.
In the stadium concourse before the game, 13-year-old New Yorker Ethan Warner-Ruf walked around in his Ecuadorian traditional Aya Huma mask that he got when he visited his mother’s hometown of Quito about three or four years ago.
“I knew now was the perfect chance to use it,” he said. “I also had a poncho, authentic from Ecuador, handmade. Although it’s way too hot to wear that.”
Considering the sweltering heat of the day, it seemed like even the mask might eventually become unbearable to wear. Warner-Ruf said he was dedicated to keep it on as long as he could to support his team.
“It’s a great thing to have the entire world come together for one sport,” he said. “The best sport in the world, football.”
Sisters Fanta and Rokya Sylla came to support the Ivory Coast, from Montreal and Sharon Hill respectively. Rokya bought the tickets for the both of them, for a total of around $2,600.
Their friend, Harleysville resident Mafi Soumahoro, didn’t want to say how much she spent on her ticket.
“Well, listen, it was very hard, but we here. Bottom line, we here,” she said.
Soumahoro was also undaunted by there being way more Ecuador fans at the game, which she said may have partially due to the partial travel ban that the U.S. has imposed on Ivorian citizens travelling into the U.S.
“It doesn’t matter that we’re not here in masses, like the Ecuadorians. Few but mighty, right? Very few, but mighty,” she said .”We’ll give everything we have. It’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be beautiful.”
Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande, who was named man of the match, said he appreciated seeing all the support for the Ivorian fans during the team’s time in the region.
“We want to say thank you for that and the only way to say thank you is to win the game and make them happy. We are trying to give everything all the time,” he said after the match.
Despite the two nations competing, the vibe around the stadium was jovial. When a group of Ivorian fans marched around the concourse singing and playing drums and horns, Ecuador fans were welcome to join the procession.
The same mood of international camaraderie was also at Philly’s official FIFA fan festival site at East Fairmount Park’s Lemon Hill.
Honduran brothers Fredy and Omar Ramos got their tickets from Fredy’s son as a Christmas present. Fredy is based in Trenton, but Omar had to fly in from Siguatepeque, Honduras.
They came to support Ecuador, despite the painful memory of Ecuador defeating Honduras in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“We lost 2-1, but we still support Ecuador. You know, Latin America,” Fredy said with a laugh.
Ramos said he never expected to have the World Cup so close to his home, and he hopes to go to another game before his brother returns to Honduras.
“I know the ticket is expensive, but hey, it happens only one time in your life.”
Victory for Les Éléphants
The heat advisory in the region may have ended but the temperatures soared in the hours leading up to the game. Thankfully, the thunderstorms that threatened to delay the evening’s proceedings stayed away.
Despite being touted as the more defensive of the two teams, Ecuador started out with the first scoring chances of the game. Just after the 10-minute mark, Ecuador’s all-time leading goalscorer Enner Valencia found himself 12 yards out from goal with Ivorian defender Seko Fofana off balance, but blazed his shot just over the goal.
In the 23rd minute, Forward John Yeboah hit the crossbar with his left-footed shot from outside of the box. Ecuador were denied by the bar again in the 30th minute, this time by midfielder Alan Minda.
Ivory Coast defender Wilfried Singo nearly put his team ahead before halftime in spectacular fashion with an acrobatics bicycle kick.
After half time, the Ivory Coast came closest to breaking the deadlock, but Elye Wahi’s shot hit the cross bar in nearly the same spot the Yeboah’s shot struck.
Diomande, who also plays for German club RB Leipzig and is just 19 years old, showed all game why he is one of the most sought after players in this summer’s transfer market, taking on defenders and setting up scoring chances.
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo found the winning goal for Les Éléphants right before the end of regular time, slotting a one-time left-footed shot from Ghislain Konan’s pass into the bottom corner past goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez.
Ivory Coast now stand second in Group E, behind Germany after the European side’s 7-1 thumping of Curaçao earlier Sunday.
Ecuador’s fans also serve as a cautionary tale to the other teams Visiting the Rocky steps that the curse of putting any clothing on Rocky does not just work on opponents of Philly teams.
Philly’s next game is between five-time champions Brazil and Haiti, which returns to the World Cup for the first time since its debut in 1974. That game will be held Friday, June 19 at 8:30 p.m.
Ivory Coast returns to Philly on June 25 for its final group stage game against Curaçao, which kick off at 4 p.m.
