This Friday, Seattle hosts its second World Cup match. Friday is also Juneteenth, the federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black people in the United States.
Gatherings and watch parties are planned in Seattle to celebrate the beautiful game and the Black diaspora.
When Marcus Harrison Green was asked to be part of a committee to honor Juneteenth as part of the World Cup, he said he was skeptical.
“Because ‘Juneteenth Advisory Committee’ can mean a lot of things,” Green said on Wednesday. “It can mean a deep, genuine commitment, or it can also mean that you Googled what Juneteenth means at 11 p.m. the night before, and you are praying that we don't notice.”
But months later, with the Juneteenth match just days away, the local publisher and writer said he is feeling confident Seattle can host a World Cup and honor Black history at the same time.
Friday's match between the U.S. and Australia will be Juneteenth themed, with posters made by Black Black artists and a commemorative scarf just for the match.
A Juneteenth celebration also will be held at the waterfront and a weekend-long festival will be held in the Central District, starting with a World Cup watch party on Friday.
RELATED: Pioneer Square businesses score big after first Seattle World Cup match
"Not just to celebrate freedom, but to reckon with how long it took for it to arrive,” Green said. “And to ask, honestly, ‘What else has not yet arrived at all?’"
Local elected leaders say all the soccer festivities won’t overshadow Juneteenth but rather highlight the important day.
Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans, the first Black person elected to the position, said athletes not only have the power to challenge racism in sports but also a responsibility to call it out in society.
For her, this is personal: Evans’ grandfather, Lee Evans, was a two-time Olympic gold medalist who protested for racial justice at the 1968 games.
“When my grandfather and his teammates stepped onto a world stage, carrying U.S.A. on their backs,” Evans said, “they did not receive the full promise of what America was supposed to represent.”
RELATED: Iran and Egypt will meet, uncomfortably, in Seattle’s World Cup ‘Pride Match’
Evans shared how even after winning two gold medals for Team U.S.A., her grandparents went back to reality as a Black couple in America.
“They would go to rent an apartment, and after the landlord saw them, told them the unit was no longer available,” Evans said. “[That was] a reality that too many Black families have faced.”
That history is part of the long, ongoing story of Juneteenth, Green said. It’s not just one day but an ongoing experience for Black Americans.
Now, he said, Seattle has the opportunity to add to that story on a global stage.
“As the world arrives in our city, they are not just seeing our skyline,” Green said. “They are seeing our soul.”
RELATED: Scenes from Day 1 of the World Cup in Seattle
Copyright 2026 KUOW