Darjeeling welcomes World Cup 2026 with festive spirit

REZA PRADHAN

Darjeeling,: Keeping with Darjeeling’s decades-old tradition of festivities during the football season, Chowrasta came alive on Thursday with the opening ceremony for the FIFA World Cup 2026 ahead of tonight’s kick-off in Mexico.

The world’s biggest sporting tournament is being co-hosted by Mexico, United States, and Canada.

Since the early 1980s, celebrations during this period have been a staple in the Hills, with the town decked up in the flags of competing World Cup nations and, in recent years, an official opening ceremony.

“We held the opening ceremony today keeping in mind the start of the World Cup tomorrow. This programme is also aimed at promoting sports among the youth here, who have a lot of potential,” said Lakpa Sherpa, president of The Darjeeling Football Society (TDFS), which organised the event.

For the rest of the year, the TDFS runs a football academy in Darjeeling. Sherpa said that more than 35 of its trainees are now playing in various reputed academies across the country.

Today’s “World Cup Opening Ceremony Celebration” at Chowrasta saw students from various schools and colleges, football academies, sports enthusiasts and others taking part. Events included children singing along to the 2010 World Cup anthem “Waka Waka” and the popular children’s song “Such a Happy Day”.

With flags of participating countries fluttering in the background, the celebrations also included cake-cutting and the distribution of footballs to the crowd.

Four upcoming footballers from the Hills, who have excelled in national and international competitions, were felicitated during the programme. They included Sushmita Lepcha from Kalimpong and Brijesh Giri, Solomon Thapa and Praveen Ghisingh from Darjeeling and its adjoining areas.

It was not only locals who appeared to be enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere at Chowrasta; tourists also joined in, speaking about their favourite teams and displaying their colours through face paint.

A clear fan of Germany, with a small German flag painted on her face, tourist Adhrika Ghosh, who was accompanied by her friend Ridhi Chakraborty from Kolkata, said, “Germany is a very good team and in the last World Cup they might not have won, but we will remain loyal to them.”

Both have been learning the German language for 11 years and plan to pursue higher studies in Germany.

Anamika Pradhan, who had set up a face-painting stall at Chowrasta with her college friends, said France was her favourite team and proudly displayed the country’s flag on her face.

An ardent supporter of Argentina, Palden Tamang said, “I have been watching football since I was a kid with my brother. I love the game and have been a fan of Argentina from the start. The timings this time are very late, so even if I do not get to watch them live, I will definitely not miss the highlights.”

Dressed in an Argentina jersey, she said she would try to watch all of her favourite team’s matches live.

The rest of the town has also come alive with football fever, with flags, badges, banners and other merchandise of different teams being sold and bought across the Hills. Flags of favourite teams can be seen fluttering from vehicles, houses and along roads and alleyways. Murals and paintings depicting the flags of different countries have also appeared in several parts of the town.