On July 19, soccer fans from the Upper Valley and beyond gathered on the Green to watch a broadcast of the FIFA World Cup final, in which Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time.
After the game ended at 6 p.m., the watch party transitioned into an outdoor simulcast of folk artist Rhiannon Giddens’s 7:30 p.m. concert in Spaulding Auditorium. The two events drew over 2,000 attendees in total, according to Hopkins Center for the Arts director of programming initiatives Johanna Evans.
The final was played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., in front of 80,000 in-person spectators. FIFA president Gianni Infantino estimated that the final reached more than six billion people worldwide.
Spain dominated the game from kickoff, taking 20 shots while holding defending champion Argentina to just three across all 120 minutes of playtime. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez kept Argentina in the match, setting a World Cup Final record with 11 saves. Substitute forward Ferran Torres finally pushed Spain over the top with a goal in the 106th minute, and Spain held off a late Argentina counterattack to win their first World Cup since 2010.
When the final whistle finally sounded on a game fought to the bitter end, Spain fans cheered, Argentina fans groaned and the whole Green rose in applause.
Attendee Anagh Shukla ’28 said there were “great vibes” on the Green.
“Coming from India, cricket is pretty dominant, but soccer really is a global sport,” he continued. “It’s played in every country of the world — it’s super accessible. All you need is a ball. And that’s something about it that really unites people from everywhere.”
The watch party was presented by the International Student Experience Office and the Hopkins Center and co-sponsored by the Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, Programming Board, the 2028 Class Council, the Office of Community Engagement and the Teevens Center for Peak Performance.
For the sponsoring offices, the appeal of the event went beyond the game itself. Dickey Center senior associate director for global health and development Dawn Carey said supporting the watch party was a “no-brainer” for the Dickey Center.
“Sports bring people together across differences,” Carey said. “Soccer — or football — is one of those cultural standards across countries that everybody can get behind.”
OPAL assistant director Jazmine Gittens-Roberts said the watch party fit into OPAL’s goals for cultural programming this summer.
“Even if you aren’t rooting for the same team, you’re sharing space together,” she said.
Organizing an event of that scale required coordination across the sponsoring offices — from securing permits for the Green to funding the screen and amplified sound — according to Gittens-Roberts. She described OPAL’s role as a “background partner” that helped promote the event, while ISEO and the Hopkins Center led planning.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, ISEO director Seun Olamosu wrote that the office was “pleased to have been a part of bringing the watch party to our Dartmouth and Hanover community.”
“The World Cup is one of the most culturally engaging sports events because of how accessible and familiar football is across the world,” Olamosu wrote. “It was wonderful to enjoy the game as a community with diverse cultures and national team alliance.”
Evans highlighted the “global nature” of the concert and World Cup in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“The turnout and vibe were inspiring,” Evans wrote. “Now is the time to celebrate internationalism, and nothing does that better than the World Cup and culture-crossing artists like Rhiannon Giddens. We want to invest in experiences that make the arts central to our lives here at Dartmouth.”
Justin Schafer, a former soccer coach who was visiting New Hampshire on vacation from his home in Ohio, attended the watch party with his two sons. Schafer said he found out about the event while researching things to do in Hanover, and the timing “just worked out perfectly.”
“You wait for this every four years — it is the pinnacle of the sport,” he said.
Adam Harder, of Etna, N.H., who was wearing a Spain jersey, said he came to watch the game with “a bunch of other people on a beautiful day.”
“I thought this World Cup brought people together in our country, in a wonderful way,” he said.
Carey said she hopes to see similar events on the Green in the future.
“You could have been in your room watching it by yourself on your computer,” Carey said. “Instead, we were all out enjoying it together.”
Teo Steverlynck-Horne is a reporter from Maine studying economics and government.
