It was a warm Santa Barbara welcome. Sunshine and welcoming crowds for the Austrian national soccer team, shaking off any jet lag and warming up at UCSB’s Harder Stadium for a community training day.
This is a big moment for fans and players. Austria has only qualified for the tournament seven times, including this year. The last time they were in the World Cup before this was 1998, long before many of the fans here were born.
These players are superstars of the sport. The team’s captain, David Alaba, also plays for Real Madrid, one of the top teams in Spain.
Alaba told KCLU he is excited for the tournament.
"The World Cup is almost here, and we're really having a good time in Santa Barbara. We have everything we need to prepare very well, and the atmosphere is really good. We love it," he said.
Each of these players took time to greet the fans who swarmed them, signing hundreds of autographs, soccer balls, and posing for selfies.
Marko Arnautovic is Austria’s most capped player, having represented the country 130 times, but this is his first World Cup.
"It's one of the biggest dreams coming true, and to be honest, I think representing Austria after 28 years for the first time again in the World Cup is something you dreamed as a kid, you never know if it comes true, now it's the time," said Arnautovic.
Striker Michael Gregoritsch would have been just 4-years-old the last time his country qualified for the World Cup.
"It's the biggest stage of football, so it's a big honor to represent Austria in the World Cup," Gregoritsch told KCLU.
He said the welcome in Santa Barbara was "Very nice, the first days now, the night was a little bit difficult because of the time change, but now we are here and it's amazing that so many people are here."
And although excitement for the 2026 World Cup has been a little slow, it’s clear that football fever has now come to Santa Barbara for these fans.
"It is so exciting, it's crazy when I found out that they will be staying here. That was like amazing news, like I was like, I have to see them, I have to get wherever I can get to see," said one.
"Yeah, I'm excited for the World Cup," said another young fan.
"It's exciting. I don't watch soccer very much, but they look like they know what they are doing," laughed another.
Having the international team here to train is great for the community, and for UCSB, says the University’s Chancellor Dennis Assanis.
"We really feel this is a building block, if you think about it, hosting the Paralympics team from Great Britain, hosting now Team Austria for soccer. We are working to host a number of other teams in preparation for the LA Olympics. I mean, this is going to make the place ignite," he said.
According to Visit Santa Barbara’s President and CEO, Kathy Janega-Dykes, having two international teams in the area for training is a boost for the city’s economy.
"One is the Austria team, and one is the Qatar team. So they will be here for close to a month each. We're trying to leverage the World Cup as much as possible," she said.
It’s also a practical choice for the team, in a tournament that's uniquely spanning three countries, Mexico, the USA, and Canada, as joint hosts.
Their Goleta base is close to the airport to travel to their first games, starting in the Bay Area against Jordan on June 17.
