World Cup 2026 STAR-SPANGLED BANGER

Hollywood celebrities join fans to cheer US’ win in ‘football’s biggest show’

- Deepanraj Ganesan

The Hollywood Walk of Fame has 2,849 stars but, for one night, a star spectacle stole the show from the glitziest, most glamorous city in the United States.

Even A-list celebrities were happy to bask in its glow on June 12, when the World Cup returned after 32 years with the first of 78 matches in the US.

Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff, George Lucas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and David Beckham - who has just become the first footballer to receive a star on the Walk of Fame - were in attendance as the US kicked off their campaign in stunning style with a 4-1 win over Paraguay at the SoFi Stadium.

Home to National Football League sides Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, the stadium is a gleaming, spaceship-like arena south of Los Angeles, right in the shadow of Hollywood.

It is perhaps fitting that, in a country where outrage over ticket prices had overshadowed the build-up to its first match, that the spectacle unfolded inside the world’s most expensive sports stadium - costing US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion) - before the world’s biggest stars.

Like the crown jewel of SoFi Stadium, the 109-metre-long, oval-shaped screen that stretches over the field, everything was larger than life in the 70,492-capacity venue that is also set to host the Super Bowl LXI on Feb 14, 2027.

As the smell of hot dogs and barbecue wafted in the arena, a fan chorus of “USA, USA, USA” reverberated inside the stadium.

While the opening game did not have the same colourful fervour that the Mexicans brought to the Estadio Azteca a day before, the Americans’ party had its own unique flavour.