Can you tell me a bit about the concept behind the café?
We opened last September because we’ve played on the field here for a long time, and we realized that there weren’t any healthy options around this neighborhood. Obviously, the café is open right across the field, so it made sense for us to be a hub for soccer culture.
Before we opened, we had the space in 2014, and we created a pop-up around the World Cup in Brazil. We created a fake tourist agency. The theme was ‘70s Brazil, and the slogan was “Fly Nowhere,” don’t go to Brazil, watch it here. We created custom jerseys, and gave out 500 of them to friends, family, influencers, people in football culture. After the pop-up, the landlord came to us and said, “hey, would you guys like the space?” And obviously we wanted to keep it. We had to think of a good concept that would last longer than just a pop-up, and that’s how Football Café came along.
Does it bug you when people say “soccer” instead of “football?”
No. It’s a global sport and football came before soccer, but it’s an English word—in England people say “soccer” too. There’s a famous tv show called Soccer AM that they have in England. It doesn’t bother me because it’s just natural. The name “Football Café” comes from the idea of a football club. It’s like a team; like the Manchester football team is the Manchester United Football Club, or Man City Football Club. Every team has the “FC,” and now you can say “I’m going to the FC,” as in Football Café.
