Harrison High School's varsity soccer teams took turns delivering a ceremonial first kick on a brand-new mini soccer pitch last Thursday, marking the official opening of a field installed at no cost to the community. The ribbon-cutting took place on August 27, with the soccer teams present for the opening.
The field was installed at no cost to Harrison thanks to a partnership between PSEG, the FIFA World Cup 2026 NYNJ Host Committee, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation, according to PSEG. As reported by HudPost, Harrison High School's boys' and girls' soccer teams participated in the ceremonial kickoff, and the new field will be used by students, athletic teams, and physical education programs going forward. The Harrison Town School District's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report is listed on NJ.gov.
Harrison Superintendent Dr. Maureen Kroog said the field would be a valuable resource for students, per HudPost's report. James Fife, who thanked the project partners for bringing the effort to Harrison, said local organizations and community partners are what make projects like this possible, according to the same account. The mini pitch, per HudPost, supports student-athletes and physical education programs while fostering teamwork, wellness and school pride — and gives young people in Harrison a place to play, compete, and come together for years to come.
A Region-Wide Legacy Push
Harrison's new field is one piece of a much larger campaign. The FIFA World Cup 2026 NYNJ Host Committee and the U.S. Soccer Foundation are working to build 26 mini-pitches across New York and New Jersey, with a stated goal of engaging 25,000 youth in sports programs and training 1,000 coach-mentors, according to CBS News. The number 26 nods to the tournament year itself.
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Outside, Together! report, the state reviewed its 2023-2027 New Jersey Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.
Related mini-pitches under the same legacy program included the brand-new Joseph H. Brensinger School mini soccer pitch, which was being celebrated ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as of March 30, 2026, and the KIPP Upper Roseville Academy campus pitch in Newark in May 2026, according to the U.S. Soccer Foundation. The program serves under-resourced communities.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation's broader Safe Places to Play initiative traces back three decades, having been created using surplus funds from the 1994 FIFA World Cup held in the United States. That program has a national goal of establishing 1,000 mini-pitches in under-resourced communities nationwide, according to Houston Dynamo FC. The organization has stated that every child deserves a safe place to play, be active, and build confidence through sport, per HudPost.
Harrison's Deep World Cup Ties
The new field arrives in a town that spent this summer at the center of the World Cup's regional footprint. During the tournament in June and July, Harrison hosted the official NYNJ World Cup 26 Jersey Fan Hub at Sports Illustrated Stadium, featuring a 60-foot broadcast screen laid into the pitch floor, according to Red Bull New York. The fan hub's debut was part of the region's broader fan-zone activations.
The 25,000-seat Sports Illustrated Stadium, formerly known as Red Bull Arena, serves as the home venue for Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls and the National Women's Soccer League's Gotham FC, per Wikipedia. Harrison, along with neighboring Kearny and East Newark in the West Hudson region, has an immigrant soccer tradition dating back to the mid-1870s, according to NBC 4 New York.
Alex Lasry said the World Cup's success should be measured by what it leaves behind, HudPost reported. The Harrison mini pitch is part of an effort to bring new play spaces to communities across the region, and organizers have framed it as evidence that the tournament's impact extends beyond the matches themselves.
Similar Efforts Beyond New Jersey
Other World Cup host cities pursued comparable infrastructure pushes ahead of the tournament. FIFA committed $1 million toward mini-pitches in Seattle, while Philadelphia Soccer 2026 pursued comparable efforts ahead of the tournament, according to Philadelphia Soccer 2026. Similar legacy investments have also been pursued beyond New Jersey.
Co-sponsor PSEG helped bring the Harrison project as part of its commitment to community recreation, wellness, and engagement, the company said. For now, the pitch stands as one more entry in a growing list of neighborhood fields meant to outlast the tournament crowds that once filled Harrison's stadium seats.
