The Worcester World Cup, an annual celebration of soccer, civic pride and the city’s diversity, is fast approaching.







Next weekend, 500 players on teams representing almost 20 nationalities will descend on Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium for three days of competitive soccer and cultural celebration. Organizers are expecting a 2,500 person turnout for the event, which runs from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, Aug. 9-11.







At its core, the event is a celebration of a sport which, around the world and in Worcester, unites people.







“The sport itself has the power to transcend different languages, cultures, groups, social classes, religions,” said Manny Reyes, an event organizer with Cultural Exchange for Soccer. “It just brings people together through the beautiful game. It doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, everyone is welcome here, everyone is enjoying themselves and having fun.”







The tournament this year will feature 16 men’s teams and four women’s teams. On the men’s side, the nationalities represented are Jamaica, Brazil, Ghana, El Salvador, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Honduras, Liberia, the United States, Kenya, Somalia, Togo, Albania, Camaroon and Guatemala. On the women’s side, the United States, Italy, Colombia and Guatemala will be represented.







All of the teams are made up of Worcester residents.







The amount of teams, and the amount of expected attendees, demonstrate a clear interest in soccer in Worcester. For those interested, it’s one of the best events in the city.







“It’s one of the highlights of the city and of the summer,” Reyes said. “It obviously shows Worcester as a city is growing and I think this is another thing that adds to the city as it grows.”











The tournament opens with a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 9 and games will run until 9 p.m. The tournament starts back up at 9:30 a.m Aug. 10 until 7:15 p.m., with a break around noon for a youth exhibition. The youth game will be between the Cultural Exchange for Soccer and African Community Education Program. On Aug. 11, soccer runs from 9 a.m. until a concluding ceremony at 7:30 p.m., at which Mayor Joe Petty is expected to award the winning teams their trophies.







The Worcester World Cup started small in 2006 at the Elm Park Community School, but it quickly outgrew the space. By 2009, the tournament was moved to Foley Stadium. Every year, Reyes said, the cup grows by word of mouth. Now, more than a decade since it started, the event has the feel of a family reunion.







“People come out and they see the same people every year. It’s a lot of ‘Hey, how are you? How are you doing? What are you up to now?’” Reyes said. “This is just one of those events that brings people together. It’s a good environment.”











Though soccer is a popular sport in Worcester, as evidenced by the success of the tournament, it’s not the easiest place in the world to play the game. What fields that are available and appropriately sized for soccer are oftentimes poorly maintained, and there aren’t many of them to begin with.







“I know that for myself, and for other people in the city, it is very hard to have access to a good-condition field,” Reyes said.







The best fields are often owned by colleges and are not open to the public. Fields that are, like the Elm Park Community School field and the field at Chandler Magnet, are sometimes in poor condition, and they’re not lit, which bars playing at night.







“For people who want to play soccer in the city, even if it’s not anything organized, that becomes difficult,” Reyes said.







Reyes and others are involved with lobbying city government to increase access to soccer fields. One solution, he said, would be to open the field at Beaver Brook Park for soccer, but any field will do, he said.







This year, as in years past, the Worcester World Cup will feature more than soccer. Alongside the soccer, the event will feature vendors selling food from cultures around the world. In past years, there have been Thai vendors, as well as Mexican, Liberian, Ghanaian and others. The event also features a kids zone, face painting of flags, and a New England Revolution ticket raffle. Vendors will also sell vuvuzelas, the popular noise-maker for soccer fans, and flags of the nationalities in the tournament.







Tickets for the event come in the form of an $8 wristband for access all weekend. Those under the age of 18 get in free.



