When it was announced that The All Whites would play 2 FIFA World Cup 2026 in Vancouver, Kia Ora Canada set out to give Kiwis a place to come together, celebrate and support the team.
Working alongside Kia Ora Vancouver and New Zealand’s official football supporters group, The Flying Kiwis, we organised pre-match events around the All Whites’ opening two games in Vancouver.
What started with two pre-match events for the June 21 match quickly grew into five events for the June 26 game, driven by the huge demand from New Zealanders across Vancouver, British Columbia and travelling fans.
Match 1: New Zealand vs Egypt – FIFA World Cup 2026
The Pre-Match Build-Up
The demand for the first All Whites match was enormous.
Both pre-match events – at the Blarney Stone and Portside Pub – sold out two weeks before kick-off, with more than 700 tickets sold between the two venues.
As kick-off approached, even more Kiwis began arriving in Vancouver. Those without tickets to the official events filled neighbouring bars, creating a genuine Kiwi takeover of Gastown.
There was also genuine belief that New Zealand could get a result against Egypt, particularly after the entertaining 2-2 draw with Iran in Los Angeles six days earlier.
The atmosphere started building hours before the Group G match.
Both venues were packed with Kiwi supporters, with New Zealand music playing, All Whites highlights on the screens and fans watching the Belgium vs Iran match. Belgium’s red card and the eventual goalless draw left Group G wide open, meaning a win for New Zealand against Egypt would put the All Whites top of the group.
The Blarney Stone also embraced the occasion with a dedicated Kiwi menu, featuring items such as the “No Payne No Gain” chicken wings, Flying Kiwi Burger and the crowd favourite Chris Wood Chicken Burger.
It was more than a pre-match event – it was a celebration of New Zealand football and Kiwi culture in the heart of Vancouver.
The March to BC Place
As the crowd gathered outside the Blarney Stone ahead of the march to BC Place, the number of supporters continued to grow.
The day before the match, Kia Ora Canada put out a rallying call encouraging Kiwis across Vancouver and British Columbia to come together and support the All Whites.
The social media post generated more than 40,000 views and hundreds of shares – helping turn what was expected to be a small supporters’ march into something much bigger.
An estimated 5,000 people ultimately joined the march to BC Place.
For Kia Ora Canada, it was an unforgettable moment and something we could never have predicted when we first began organising the event.
With Vancouver Police and the local FIFA World Cup organising committee working alongside organisers to facilitate the march, roads were closed and the crowd began its journey towards BC Place.
The scene was unlike anything seen at a New Zealand sporting event in recent memory.
Massive banners filled the crowd, including the now-famous “We Got Wood” sign. Black and white smoke filled the streets, while chants of “O Aotearoa” – sung to the tune of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army – echoed through downtown Vancouver.
As the march progressed, more people stopped to watch, take photos and film the spectacle.
Multiple stops, Flying Kiwis chants and All Whites songs kept the energy high as thousands of supporters made their way towards the stadium.
BC Place – New Zealand vs Egypt
The Group G FIFA World Cup 2026 match at BC Place was played in front of a crowd of 52,497.
Inside the stadium, the pre-match atmosphere continued to build.
An Aussie DJ kept the concourse moving with a selection of Kiwi favourites, while thousands of supporters made their way into the stadium.
It felt like a sea of white and black… but once the teams were announced, reality hit – the Egyptian support vastly outnumbered the Kiwis inside the stadium.
The noise reached another level when Egypt’s line-up was announced, particularly when Liverpool legend and Egyptian sporting hero Mohamed Salah’s name was read out.
15th Minute: New Zealand 1-0 Egypt
A corner was delivered by Tim Payne (The most famous not famous player at the world cup) into the box and Finn Surman rose to head the ball into the net.
NEW ZEALAND WERE 1-0 UP.
The Kiwi section erupted.
Shirts came off. Hugs and high-fives filled the stands. For a moment, there was a genuine belief that New Zealand could create a piece of World Cup history.
As the first half continued with the All Whites protecting their lead, the supporters began chanting:
“We are, we are top of the group!”
For a country that had never won a men’s World Cup match, the possibility of a historic victory – and a place in the knockout stages – suddenly felt real.
At half-time, the atmosphere among the Kiwi supporters was one of anticipation. Could this really be the moment?
The Second Half
Unfortunately, the second half didn’t go the All Whites’ way. Egypt turned the game around, scoring three unanswered goals, including fan favourite Mohamed Salah’s 67th-minute strike.
The final score was New Zealand 1-3 Egypt.
While there were certainly moments that left Kiwi supporters wondering “what if?”, Egypt ultimately deserved the victory, but football – particularly World Cup football – is unpredictable. Anything can happen, and the All Whites’ campaign was far from over.
The Kiwi Takeover
The result may not have been what New Zealand fans wanted, but the impact of the supporters’ movement was undeniable.
From more than 700 people attending the pre-match events, to thousands more filling bars throughout Vancouver, and ultimately an estimated 5,000 people marching to BC Place, the All Whites had brought New Zealanders together on an extraordinary scale.
For Kia Ora Canada, it was a huge moment. The goal was always to create opportunities for Kiwis living in Canada to connect with each other and celebrate New Zealand culture. In Vancouver, that vision became a reality on a scale we could never have imagined.
Sunday provided the next chance to make New Zealand sporting history.
Match Summary
New Zealand 1-3 Egypt
New Zealand: Finn Surman (15′)
Egypt: Mohamed Zizo (58′), Mohamed Salah (67′), Trézéguet (82′)
Attendance: 52,497
FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group G
Match 2: New Zealand vs Belgium – FIFA World Cup 2026
Between the Games: A Kiwi Takeover in Whistler
With five days between the All Whites’ Group G matches, a large contingent of New Zealand fans made their way from Vancouver to the beautiful mountain town of Whistler for the week.
After the excitement of the first match and the incredible 5,000-person march through Vancouver, Whistler provided the perfect opportunity for Kiwi supporters to relax, explore British Columbia and soak up more of the FIFA World Cup atmosphere.
It quickly became a mini Kiwi takeover. Local pubs embraced the influx of New Zealand visitors, while New Zealand flags could be spotted around the village, including proudly hanging from balconies.
For many travelling Kiwis, Whistler became a base for taking in more of the World Cup action. Games including Norway vs Senegal, Switzerland vs Canada and England vs Ghana drew large crowds of expatriate and travelling supporters into the village.
The England vs Ghana match, in particular, attracted plenty of attention from English fans, although the performance left many wondering whether football really was “coming home” or whether England could be heading for an early exit.
For the Kiwi supporters, however, the focus remained firmly on the All Whites and the huge opportunity ahead.
Game Day: The Build-Up Gets Even Bigger
Five days earlier, two official pre-match venues had sold out. For the Belgium game, that number had grown to five pre-match venues.
And despite the increase in capacity, one question could still be heard throughout Vancouver:
“Anyone have a spare Blarney ticket?”
The Blarney Stone had become famous among the Kiwi supporters after the first match, and demand for entry was enormous.
Once again, thousands of New Zealand fans gathered across Vancouver to soak up the pre-match atmosphere. There was a genuine belief that the All Whites could pull off something special.
Belgium had struggled during the tournament and were coming into the match out of form. Could New Zealand actually beat one of the world’s traditionally strongest football nations and qualify for the knockout stages?
As the time for the march approached, the crowd gathered for one final chant. Led by The Crowd Goes Wild’s James McOnie, Kiwi supporters belted out “Chris Wood’s on Fire”, sung to the tune of Freed From Desire.
The March to BC Place
Once again, more than 5,000 supporters joined the march towards BC Place.
Many were people who had missed the first march and were determined not to miss their chance to be part of what had quickly become a historic moment for New Zealand sports fans.
New banners appeared, while the black-and-white smoke, chants and songs returned to the streets of Vancouver.
This time, the march took a slightly slower and more scenic route, allowing supporters to soak in the occasion and giving the crowd even more time to sing.
If the first march had surprised Vancouver, the second showed that the movement was no one-off. New Zealand supporters had created their own World Cup tradition.
There was even a sense that the Kiwis had won the unofficial “march-off.”
Belgium had a sizeable and passionate support base, but their supporters had a much shorter journey to BC Place – roughly 500 metres – compared with the 15-minute walk taken by the thousands of Kiwi fans.
The streets belonged to New Zealand once again.
BC Place: New Zealand vs Belgium
Inside BC Place, the All Whites were once again heavily outnumbered. That was always going to be the case. Belgium’s population is roughly twice that of New Zealand, while football is deeply embedded in Belgian sporting culture.
But numbers didn’t matter to the Kiwi supporters, they had come believing.
New Zealand needed a victory to have a chance of reaching the knockout stages, but a draw would still have represented a huge result against a Belgian side packed with world-class players.
The All Whites started nervously and managed to keep Belgium scoreless for the opening 28 minutes.
Then Belgium found the breakthrough via Leandro Trossard.
1-0.
The goal gave Belgium control, and they took that lead into half-time.
For New Zealand, the task was clear, they needed to find a way back into the game.
The Second Half
Belgium extended their advantage early in the second half with a second goal to Leandro Trossard and when Kevin De Bruyne scored 16 minutes later, the All Whites’ hopes hanging by the thinnest of margins.
Then came the moment Kiwi supporters had been waiting for.
84th Minute: Elijah Just
Elijah Just.
The standout New Zealand player of the tournament produced a moment of brilliance, scoring his third goal of the World Cup.
Belgium 3-1 New Zealand.
Suddenly, there were just six minutes of regulation time remaining. Could New Zealand somehow produce one final miracle comeback?
Unfortunately, Belgium’s greatest-ever goal scorer, Romelu Lukaku had other ideas, Scoring almost immediately after Just’s goal.
And in stoppage time, a Alexis Saelemaekers goal completed a 5-1 victory. Belgium had finally shown some of the form that had been missing earlier in the tournament, producing a convincing win at exactly the right time.
For New Zealand and the All Whites, the World Cup journey was over.
Reflection: A New Era for the All Whites
Looking back at the two Group G matches in Vancouver, the results demonstrated where the All Whites currently sit on the international stage. New Zealand entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked team in the group, yet they were competitive for significant periods against two established football nations. There were moments when the All Whites showed they could compete with teams packed with players from some of the world’s biggest clubs.
Regular opportunities to play against top-level opposition can only help New Zealand continue to develop. With a more direct pathway to future FIFA World Cups, attention will inevitably turn towards 2030 and if the performances in Vancouver are anything to go by, the All Whites will be looking to build on this experience.
A New Chapter for Kiwi Football Fans
From a supporters’ perspective, the week in Vancouver truly redefined what New Zealand sports fandom could look like. New Zealand isn’t traditionally known for having the loudest or most elaborate supporter culture. At rugby and cricket matches, chants can often be fairly simple.
But the FIFA World Cup 2026 was different.
The banners, The smoke, The songs, The marches, The thousands of Kiwis travelling together, The chants echoing through the streets of Vancouver, For those who experienced it, the memories will last a lifetime.
The two marches of more than 5,000 people each, the packed pre-match venues and the atmosphere around BC Place demonstrated just how powerful New Zealand’s football community can be when given the opportunity to come together.
And this feels like only the beginning. The Flying Kiwis will look to carry that momentum towards 2030, continuing to create an atmosphere that gives New Zealand supporters a home wherever the All Whites play.
If you ever get the chance to join the Flying Kiwis at an All Whites game – whether in New Zealand or overseas – do it, You won’t be disappointed.
Match Summary
New Zealand 1-5 Belgium
New Zealand: Elijah Just (84′)
Belgium: Leandro Trossard (28′, 50′), Kevin De Bruyne (66′), Romelu Lukaku (86′), Alexis Saelemaekers (90’+4′)
Attendance: 52,497
FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group G