Twenty-four years after a sea of red filled the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall in 2002 and stunned the world, cheering culture inside and outside World Cup stadiums has established itself as an independent festival in its own right. From Norway's "Viking Row" to the roar that set off seismographs in Mexico, cheering has now become a scene that defines the World Cup as much as the results on the pitch.
According to FIFA on Saturday, FIFA's official website states on its Fan Festival history page that "it all began in 2002." During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, FIFA witnessed a phenomenon in which fans in Korea voluntarily gathered in public spaces outside stadiums to watch matches together on large screens. FIFA then institutionalized this as an official program called "FIFA Fan Fest" starting with the 2006 Germany World Cup.
According to the National Archives of Korea, the number of citizens who took to the streets to cheer at that time totaled approximately 20 million on a cumulative basis, equivalent to 43% of the entire population. More than 8 million people gathered in front of Seoul City Hall and Gwanghwamun alone across six occasions. The sight of millions of people wearing red T-shirts chanting "Dae~han-min-guk" and surging like waves shocked European media, which had been accustomed to hooligan culture.
The scene of citizens voluntarily cleaning the streets and heading home after the matches ended was reported worldwide as a symbol of civic consciousness that went beyond mere cheering. The street cheering triggered by the Red Devils at that time continued through South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022, ushering in an era of 40 million cumulative spectators at FIFA-hosted Fan Festivals.
Twenty-four years later, at the 2026 North and Central American World Cup, cheering culture has evolved even further.
The scene that has emerged as representative of this tournament is Norway's "Viking Row." It is a cheer in which thousands of Norwegian fans wearing red shirts sit down all at once and imitate the motion of Vikings rowing while shouting "Ro!" (Row!). Two drums keep the rhythm, and when the roar reaches its climax, everyone stands up all at once and bursts into explosive cheers.
Norwegian football fan Ole Frøystad conceived the idea last December, drawing inspiration from Viking culture, and the official supporters' group "Olieberget Supporterklubb" developed it into its current form. Although the cheer was created only about six months ago, its impact has been explosive. A video of Erling Haaland leading the Viking Row with fans while holding a drum after the victory over Brazil recorded millions of views on social media.
In New York's Times Square, downtown Boston, and the New York Mets stadium, as well as in front of the Norwegian parliament, citizens shouted "Ro!" and imitated the rowing motion.
The cheering of co-host Mexico left an outright physical impact. When Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored during the round-of-32 match against Ecuador held at Estadio Azteca, Mexico's comprehensive crisis management platform (SASSLA) officially announced that "significant artificial signals caused by cheering and collective roaring" were detected at seismographs near the stadium.
The scene of broadcast cameras shaking up and down in time with the crowd's jumping was conveyed directly to viewers around the world. Mexico manager Javier Aguirre called this crowd the "12th player," but with the addition of the thin air at the 2,200-meter high-altitude location, analysts say a "13th player" is effectively running alongside the team.
The passion of Mexican fans continued outside the stadium as well. Ahead of the round-of-32 match, some fans flocked to the front of the Ecuadorian team's lodging and blew whistles and honked horns until late at night, in an incident that prompted police to be dispatched.
If Korea's street cheering in 2002 created the institution known as the FIFA Fan Festival, the cheers of 2026 are writing new scenes on top of that institution by adding each country's cultural identity to it. Both Norway, rowing its Viking oars, and Mexico, shaking the stadium itself, trace their starting point to the South Korea that turned the area in front of Seoul City Hall red 24 years ago.
