Scottish, Haitian fans turn Boston into World Cup party

Over the past week, thousands of Scottish and Haitian fans have filled Boston streets and venues—hitting City Hall Plaza’s “Cop Slide,” playing bagpipes in the early morning, boarding boats on Boston Harbor, and marching down Boylston Street—ahead of Scotland

FOXBOROUGH — World Cup fever is back in Boston, and it arrived the way it always does: in motion.

For the first time since 1994, Foxborough is hosting World Cup action, with Scotland vs. Haiti on Saturday standing as the first of seven matches to take place at “Boston Stadium” during the anticipated international tournament.

The run-up has felt less like a distant tournament and more like a neighborhood takeover. Over the last week. thousands of Scottish and Haitian fans have held court across the city—celebrating with locals. commandeering bars. and making their way down the notorious “Cop Slide” at City Hall Plaza. There has been plenty of kilt-wearing. plenty of street-level noise. and a sense that Boston itself is part of the draw.

As Scotland prepares for its first World Cup match since 1998 and Haiti readies for its first since 1974, the city has been showing its work. Here are some of the moments captured on video as the two fan bases bring their noise to Boston.

After several nights of revelry, Scottish fans discovered the viral “Cop Slide” at City Hall Plaza. In one clip, a fan takes part in the perilous playground gauntlet while playing the bagpipes.

The party also drew in the people who are usually on the other side of the action. A Boston Police Department sergeant, Connor Hardy, went viral after a video showed him juggling a soccer ball with fans during Boston’s Fan Fest at City Hall Plaza.

Hardy. a 14-year veteran of the Boston Police Department. described the interaction as something that started as confusion and ended as fun. “When I went over there. I think they originally thought I was gonna steal the ball and be the fun police. ” he told The Boston Globe. “I actually just kind of did my thing with them, and it was fun, and it turned out funny.”.

Hardy said he has experience on the pitch as well. telling reporters on Saturday that he played soccer in high school and at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. New Hampshire. “Never something I thought would happen,” Hardy said of his sudden online fame. “It’s all good fun though — it’s great, the World Cup here in Boston.”.

Over the last few days, the games have spilled out into the streets of Boston, with fans turning headers and volleys into a kind of public entertainment.

One Scottish celebration arrived by water earlier on Saturday. Hundreds of members of The Tartan Army were out on Boston Harbor, celebrating on a boat.

Another wave of energy landed when Scottish fans joined Team USA’s watch party on Friday at City Hall Plaza. Fans from several counties were more than happy to join in as thousands celebrated amid the U.S.’ convincing win over Paraguay.

As the day of kickoff approached, the trip to Foxborough came with its own flourish. The Tartan army arrived in Foxborough using several yellow school buses from both Boston and Providence.

Haitian supporters, meanwhile, have also had their own visible runway into the matchup. Ahead of kickoff, fans of “Les Grenadiers” held a parade down Boylston Street.

And even when the next stop wasn’t the match, it was clearly still the World Cup. Fenway Park saw a visible influx of kilts and tartan over the course of Friday’s game between the Red Sox and Rangers, with one fan posting that “even if half the crowd were Scotland fans who’ve taken over Boston!”

The loudest early-morning signal came from a neighborhood that woke up to bagpipes instead of traffic. Mike Morrison posted a video of an AirBnb near his home with Scottish fans playing bagpipes at 6:30 in the morning. and the post spread quickly. Morrison later said he became fast friends with his neighbors from across the pond and. eventually. earned a ticket to Saturday’s game.

There were also smaller moments showing how quickly rival allegiances blur into shared spectacle. Scottish fans have shown up alongside Argentina supporters in the city. with the source noting it wasn’t the usual blue-and-white of Argentina’s flag. but that “The Tartan Army” lifted up one rambunctious Argentina fan early Friday morning. The relationship is rooted, the piece says, in a shared disdain for England and an affinity for Diego Maradona.

The images have carried other traces of fan life. too—statues not staying put. and Boston institutions being treated like stops on a long route. The piece describes Scots making treks through Market Basket. and it points back to the “Cop Slide” as part of an “eye-opening experience” for visitors now seeing the Commonwealth up close.

On the ground, the energy has also looked communal rather than strictly factional. One video described Haitians and Scots dancing together near Gillette Stadium about four hours before the World Cup matchup.

Across the week. fans have described their own reasons for the spending and the travel as the city keeps shifting into World Cup mode. In one clip. Scottish supporters in downtown Boston said they had no qualms about the thousands of dollars they are spending to see their team return to the World Cup after a 28-year absence.

Scotland fans have also been captured in full voice ahead of their opener, with one post featuring the chant: “We’ve got McGinn, super John McGinn!”

And on the Haitian side, the sense of history has hung over every gathering. One fan said they didn’t know it had been 52 years since Haiti last qualified for the World Cup, and that they had a great conversation with supporters who disagreed on who would win—before cheering for Scotland.

By Saturday, the story in Boston has already been written in motion: bagpipes at dawn, buses rolling toward Foxborough, dancers outside Gillette Stadium, and fans turning a city into a meeting place for two teams chasing a first match in decades.

The first question now is simple, and it’s the one the week has been building toward since the first videos appeared: when Scotland and Haiti finally meet, will the energy from the streets carry into the stadium?

World Cup 2026 Boston Scotland fans Haitian fans Foxborough City Hall Plaza Cop Slide Fenway Park Boylston Street The Tartan Army Les Grenadiers