Where to find a hot international boyfriend during the World Cup

By now, even the least athletic of all Dallasites know the World Cup has officially begun.

And while there are many reasons to be excited — watch parties, festivals, proximity to a global conversation — above all else, the tournament brings an innumerable number of international men to our front door. Daters everywhere have begun to realize the unique opportunity presented by the tournament. 

For the completely uninitiated, the tournament is hosted across North America and has stationed teams across the continent. We were lucky enough to get the Swedish and the Czech Republic national teams and their entire entourages. But in Big D, we have unique access not granted to other cities. The city is also the official broadcast center for the entire tournament, welcoming roughly 3,000 journalists. So not only are we privy to the teams that are honorary Texans for the next five weeks, but we also host a deep bench of camera-ready commentators from across the globe. 

Not to mention the rotation of teams scheduled to play at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington and all of their jet-setting die-hard fans. That includes the Netherlands and Japan, England and Croatia on June 17, Argentina and Austria on June 22, Japan and the European playoff-winning team on June 25, and Jordan and Argentina again on June 27. And that’s only before the knockout stage matches. 

Suffice to say, there’s never been a better time to be single around here. We’re about to be inundated with men, and some of them might even have nice accents, so you should probably learn how to say “Your place or mine?” in at least seven languages. 

Surely by now you’ve already seen at least one international traveler while swiping on dating apps. But if you’re craving an organic meet-cute with someone from across the pond, here are a couple of places we’d frequent. 

Swooning for Sweden

Swooning for Sweden? Us too. The team, camping out in Frisco, has already made use of one of North Texas’ only and certainly oldest Scandinavian gift shops, The Wooden Spoon (1617 K Ave., Plano), which went viral amid the Swedish candy craze of a few summers ago. And we wouldn’t be surprised if a player or two stumble in on a random Tuesday for some more pickled herring. We’re glad the Swedish team has found a piece of home in North Texas. If they’re looking for other slices of home in Dallas, ours are available, and we always need an expert Swede to help us put a new IKEA cabinet together.

Czech yes

There aren’t many parallels between Dallas and the Czechia. For instance, they have the architectural masterpiece that is the Prague Castle. We have banks and gas stations as far as the eye can see. One of their national pastimes is mushroom foraging in their expansive coniferous forests. We spend our idle time in bumper-to-bumper traffic envisioning the chain restaurant destination that awaits us. Our alphabet has the letters Q, W and X, and they have players with names with consonants in orders we’ve never seen (like Mojmír Chytil). But if there’s one thing Texans and the Czech can agree on, it’s the perfection of a kolache. So if you’re looking for a sweet treat in all its forms, we’d stop by FourCzechs Bakery (104 E Fate Main Place, Rockwall), or if you’re down for a day trip, the two rival Czech gas stations in West, Texas, are a must-see. 

As an aside, we’d like to thank whoever runs the Czech Men’s National Team Instagram.

We’ll take the tea and the crumpet

The British are coming, and thank goodness for it. We’ll be honest, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll fall in love with a member of a national soccer team. But it is highly likely that you fall in love with a fan of a national soccer team, and there’s no easier fanatic to spot than the prideful and highly populous English nationals. On June 17, you can find us at Harwood Arms (2823 McKinnon St.), already a good spot to meet a proper man when there’s not a global soccer tournament. 

We’re happy to cry for Argentina

Argentina is one of the top-ranked teams this tournament, having won the last World Cup hosted in Qatar. The team is anchored by A-list soccer star Lionel Messi, who has announced this will be his final World Cup. The celebrity athlete’s prominence has earned Argentina a large following worldwide — you don’t even need to be a massive soccer fan to recognize the blue-and-white striped uniform. With a large Spanish-speaking population, we’ve got Latin clubs in every major entertainment district. But if we had to pick one to find your Argentinian Mr. Right, or a close-enough Argentinian, we’d go to Mas Chingon Cantina (312 W Davis St.), which has a line out the door almost every night regardless of which team was on the TV that night.

The world is your stage, and every bar is an altar

Throw a rock, and you’ll hit a bar playing the World Cup. Throw a rock in that bar, and you’ll probably hit a cute guy, and he might just have an accent. Seriously, there’s a World Cup-related event every single day, so if you really want to meet someone, you probably won’t have to go very far. And remember, even if you have no idea how soccer works, find the cutest guy and say, “He’s lucky he didn’t get a card for that,” and hope for the best.

Good luck, and leave it all out on the field.