On the evening before the Senegal vs. Belgium match at the World Cup in Seattle, Christina Woon was desperately trying to grab two tickets at the last minute. The match was held at Lumen Field—one of the city’s main sports venues—which hosted World Cup games and played a key role in cementing Seattle’s status as a major sports hub. The 36-year-old Christina wanted, no matter what, to take her 71-year-old mother, Heng, to her first-ever professional sports event. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, Heng, as her daughter tells it, became swept up by the football atmosphere and turned into a real fan. “I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it,” Heng remembers. “She didn’t say anything until she bought the tickets.”
Heng Woon immigrated from China in 1985 and has lived in the Seattle area ever since with her husband and two daughters. For the past ten years, she’s worked nonstop—together with her family, they run the coffee shop Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes in Renton. The suburb lies about 20 kilometers southeast of downtown Seattle and is known primarily for the Boeing factory complex, where narrow-body aircraft such as the Boeing 737 are produced, as well as for the training facility of the NFL team the Seattle Seahawks and for local sports venues. Before opening her business, Heng worked as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant, and in the evenings she attended English classes. “She worked so much. She came here 41 years ago, barely knowing the language,” Christina says.
The 2026 World Cup is especially meaningful for Seattle’s immigrant communities: the global nature of the event gave many children of immigrants the chance to gift tickets to their parents and thank them for years of sacrifice. At the same time, the tournament highlighted the difficulties faced by overseas fans who, because of tougher immigration rules under President Trump, couldn’t get into the host cities. Still, the matches have already drawn more than four million viewers in the United States and from other countries, surpassing the record set in 1994. For Seattle itself, hosting the World Cup games was hugely important: it brought tourists and international attention, and also showcased local football culture—especially in light of the popularity of the MLS club Seattle Sounders.
Christina started looking for tickets weeks in advance, browsing resale websites and comparing prices. In the end, she found a pair of seats for $470 each—after fees, the tickets arrived just a few hours before Wednesday’s match. “It’s expensive, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Christina explains. “When else in our city will something on this scale happen?” Her sister had already bought tickets for the Round of 16 match between the United States and Belgium—only adding to Christina’s eagerness to feel the same excitement with her mother. About her father, she says with a smile: “He’s not interested in sports, so he doesn’t have FOMO.”
After the match, Christina was happy to see her mother taking photos and videos at the stadium. Heng began posting them on the Chinese app WeChat right during the game, and Christina had to remind her that it was better to do it afterward. When asked who they were cheering for, Christina says they didn’t have any particular preferences: “It was great going in with open eyes and just enjoying the football.”
Based on: Securing last-minute World Cup tickets, Renton woman surprises immigrant mother - The Seattle Times