Vancouver street football players hope World Cup inspires more facilities and soccer awareness

As the World Cup concludes, Vancouver's Sunset Beach FC continues its weekly street football tradition, a pickup game that has thrived for five years. What began with about ten friends playing on an outdoor rink, normally used for street hockey, has evolved into a city-wide magnet for players of all skill levels and backgrounds.

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We came here and there were about 10 of us. We had a good time, then it was like, see you guys next week, and we just kept on coming back. People would start to come by and it would grow and grow.

Alexandre Gangue-Ruzic, one of the founders, explained the organic growth of the game. "We came here and there were about 10 of us. We had a good time, then it was like, see you guys next week, and we just kept on coming back. People would start to come by and it would grow and grow," he told Reuters. An Instagram account, named Sunset Beach FC, helped fuel its expansion.

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I think that's probably our best feature - you don't need to know anyone. You can just come, teams are picked by captains, and from there it's just 'king's court'-style - winner stays on, one goal, if there's a tie both teams go out.

The games are played five-on-five on the rink, which prevents the ball from going out of bounds. Players can run or pass behind collapsible goals, mirroring elements of Canada's ice hockey culture. Newcomers quickly learn the rules of this fast and competitive game, where the "winner stays on" principle is often applied.

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Vancouver has always been a bit of a sleeping soccer city. You see it in pockets, you see it in little moments. You'll go to a pitch and you'll feel that pickup culture, you'll go to a game from one of the club teams and you'll see that supporter culture. You see it at the grassroots level.

With the World Cup nearing its end, players like Gangue-Ruzic hope the tournament will leave a lasting legacy in Vancouver. They aspire to see more facilities and a heightened public awareness of soccer in a city they describe as having "always been a bit of a sleeping soccer city." The game's grassroots culture, evident in pickup games and club matches, is something they believe can be further realized and defined.

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It's just we don't maybe know how to define it, to actually realise what that could look like, so I think people are starting to realise that being a football city is gathering on the street when your country plays (in the World Cup), it's playing pickup.