Kansas town adopts Algerian team during World Cup
A Kansas college town has embraced the Algerian national team, which is calling the city of Lawrence their home base during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Residents and natives of Lawrence -- a city of about 96,000 people -- pulled out all the stops to welcome the team ahead of their inaugural match against Argentina on Tuesday.
The University of Kansas marching band played the Algerian national anthem and Lawrence artist Stan Herd created a giant flag of the North African nation, made out of organic materials, to display on the school grounds.
"We are so excited about just being a small footnote to this larger story of how FIFA and the World Cup, it's not about football, it's about cultures coming together, it's about shared humanity," Herd told ABC News.
About 800 supporters went to see Herd and his team unveil the flag on June 13, according to Herd.
"Everybody had goosebumps. I've never seen a more joyous crowd," Herd said. "It wasn't the flag, it wasn't the art, it was the embrace of the community."
Algerian head coach Vladimir Petkovic told reporters previously that his team has been receiving lots of love from local supporters.
"We've had some real positive vibes," Petkovic said, as reported by ESPN. "[It's] not just the Algerian population, but also locals in the United States living in this area. We'll try and give them something back."
Although Algeria lost against Argentina 0-3 on Tuesday, they will head to Santa Clara, California, next for their Monday, June 22, match against Jordan. After that match concludes, they will return back to Kansas City to face off against Austria on June 27 and conclude their Group J campaign.
