Get in the Game: The New York Public Library to Host Watch Parties of World Cup Matches in Branches

Image by NYPL

46 NYPL branches across the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island will host free game time livestreams of soccer matches for communities to watch together

Forty-six branches across The New York Public Library system will host watch parties for the FIFA World Cup 2026, beginning with the first match tomorrow, June 11, until the final game on July 19. All ages are welcome to these community-focused gatherings. 

The Library’s branches—21 in the Bronx, 18 in Manhattan, and 7 on Staten Island—showing the World Cup will have a special tournament-inspired Reading Tracker, encouraging visitors to get their reading minutes in throughout the tournament’s five stages. 

In addition, the Library is offering World Cup-related programming for adults, teens, and kids in branches, from soccer ball origami to button and flag making. See all World Cup-related programming in branches here. Soccer reading lists for kids & teens and adults are also available.

Watch parties and programming for the World Cup is a part of the annual, city-wide Summer at the Library initiative, which inspires summer reading and learning among children, young adults, and adults.

While not required, we encourage New Yorkers to sign-up for a Library card ahead of kick off, scoring themselves a brand new special-edition and recently issued library card commemorating 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was ratified. Signing up is easy and can be done online or in person. Guidance is available here.

The Library is also participating in “Already Home,” a citywide program from Team Wonder and the Mayor’s office, that encourages participants to pick up a passport, and then explore NYC and visit a range of events, organizations, and cultural institutions—including several of our branches—to receive a stamp.

Participating branches are listed below. Refer to nypl.org/summer/2026/watch-world-cup for information on which branches will host certain matches—not every participating branch will livestream each match. Select livestreams will be in Spanish.

The Bronx

• Bronx Library Center
• Hunts Point
• Morris Park
• Morrisania
• Mott Haven
• Woodstock
• Baychester
• City Island
• Eastchester
• Parkchester 
• Pelham Bay
• Soundview
• Wakefield
• Westchester Square
• Francis Martin
• Grand Concourse
• Highbridge
• Kingsbridge
• Melrose 
• Sedgwick
• Van Cortlandt

Manhattan

• Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
• Harlem
• Roosevelt Island
• Yorkville
• Hudson Park
• Jefferson Market
• Mulberry Street
• New Amsterdam
• Seward Park
• Tompkins Square
• Fort Washington 
• George Bruce
• Inwood
• Macomb’s Bridge
• Morningside Heights
• Riverside
• St. Agnes
• Washington Heights

Staten Island

• Charleston
• Dongan Hills
• Great Kills
• South Beach
• St. George
• Stapleton
• Todt Hill-Westerleigh

About The New York Public Library

For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. The New York Public Library receives approximately 16 million visits through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.