10 Best Soccer Bars in America to Watch World Cup Action. Did Yours Make the Cut?
For Roger Bennett, acclaimed podcaster, author, filmmaker and founder of the hugely popular Men in Blazers (MiB) media network, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is the delivery of a 32-year-old promise: Soccer has finally made it in America.
“The greatest story of my life is being part of football growing in America—like space to Captain Kirk, it’s the final frontier, and bars are the centrality of that driver,” said Bennett, exuding the passion of the devout. Soccer is now the fifth most popular sport in America with more than 133 million fans and those numbers will surely grow with the World Cup now on home turf.
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For Bennett, football, as it's known in his native Britain, does indeed hold a quasi-religious status. He moved to Chicago for the 1994 World Cup and never left. He brought his love of the beautiful game stateside and used his eloquence and entrepreneurial talents to found the largest independent soccer focused media company in North America.
His company now covers multiple international tournaments and the women’s game, as well as releasing a detailed report on U.S. fandom with more than 33,000 participants. And that’s not to mention that Bennett has interviewed some of the biggest stars in football, including Mo Salah, Pep Guardiola, and Bukayo Saka. His most recent book, We Are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event—Soccer's Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and the Passion That Unites Fans Worldwide, which came out in March, could not be more timely.
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One of the book’s key tenets is the role of the soccer bar in U.S. fan culture, including its unique position and its essential characteristics. “Football bars are the pathfinders for the growth of the game in the US,” said Bennett. “A great football bar can collapse time and space and transport everyone emotionally and almost physically into a telenovela that the world is watching.”
Recalling his experience of moving to Chicago alone in 1994, Bennett emphasizes how the sense of camaraderie fostered by a successful football pub is intrinsic to the enjoyment of the game. “I found solace in a niche community who came together to feast on football. We were all expats, all English, and it was the same 12 to 14 humans every week. We knew each other by name—it was almost embarrassing,” he said.
Bennett’s spirited football-watching journey took him from Chicago’s AJ Hudson’s Public House and Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap in Hyde Park, to DC’s Planet Fred and New York’s Kinsale Tavern.
At the Kinsell Tavern, “the staff were amazing. They remembered everyone by name—all the same couple of hundred people. For 90 minutes when you had the symbiosis of the TV, crowd and energy of the staff, it felt like you were no longer in Manhattan. You were transported to Liverpool or London or Barcelona.”
These formative experiences helped to shape Bennett’s criteria for the perfect soccer bar. “The power of a great football bar is in the number of TVs and quality of the sound system. They're the foundational text of football as a religion—being able to see, hear, and be sucked into the energy of the crowd,” he said.
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Bennett is keen to emphasize that there are aspects of great American soccer bars that are both unique and essential to the U.S. In other countries, “you commune with fans of your team and everyone else is the enemy, but in the U.S. most fans are young and have come in since the Premier League started being broadcast by NBC in 2013,” he said. “Their discovery and passion have created a unique culture that's not divided into us-against-you.” This difference means that bars must be ready for and welcoming to multiple fan groups, fostering an inclusive spirit.
“A great football bar has multiple fans coming in and out throughout the day. For example, I was in New Orleans watching Arsenal lose, then Everton fans poured in for their match, and they communed and commiserated with the Arsenal fans,” said Bennett. He also highlights that while spaces should respect soccer’s cultural rituals, such as chanting and singing, there’s no right or wrong way to be a fan. “Get in, enjoy it and don’t knock anyone’s pint over!”
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MiB launched its America’s Best Soccer Bar survey last year and Atlanta’s Brewhouse Café was crowned the champ. This year, 1,600 bars across all 50 states received nominations but it was Arlington, VA’s Ireland’s Four Corners that took top honors.
For Bennett, the competition is an acknowledgement of the debt the sport owes to its bars and the significance of their culture. He was inspired to start the competition after he saw soccer bars closing due to Covid. “I have so much respect and gratitude to these institutions, so I wanted to make sure they're not being taken for granted—to lift them up and shine a light on the centrality of their role,” he said.
This extends to the MiB’s bar finder and city guide tools on its website, which enables fans to access the best possible visitor experiences for the World Cup and beyond. “We get a lot of communication from people asking where to watch locally, so we wanted to create something that would proactively answer that question for everyone. Each venue is unique and beautiful—each one is energizing. I wish I could visit them all,” said Bennett.
Ultimately for Bennett, a great American soccer bar is about capturing the spirit of the game as well as the day-drinking culture. “World Cups are remarkable—they're like a global eclipse that strikes the planet for 39 straight days. We all watch with a beer and a coffee in hand at 6 a.m., which can be an individual pursuit, but a great bar enables fans to come together and actively make memories,” he said. “And you cannot have a great football bar without a great Irish breakfast!”
10 Best Soccer Bars in America to Watch the 2026 World Cup
- Ireland's Four Courts: Arlington, VA
- The Dubliner Irish Pub: Boston, MA
- Carragher's: New York, NY
- Mad Dog in the Fog: San Francisco, CA
- Chatham Tap: Indianapolis, IN
- Empire Bar: Tulsa, OK
- The Kettle Black Kitchen: Phoenix, AZ
- The British Bulldog: Denver, CO
- The Globe Pub: Chicago, IL
- The Black Sheep Pub: Philadelphia, PA
Find more extraordinary soccer bars near you via MiB's bar finder.
source https://www.mensjournal.com/drink/best-soccer-bars-america
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