Classroom lesson · Sport · 🇵🇦 Panama

Football in Panama

The country's second love - and growing fast

Children playing football on a sandy pitch in Panama with the sea in the background

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Football (the kind you play with your feet) is Panama's second-most-popular sport, growing more and more popular every year. Panama's national team has played in major tournaments including the FIFA World Cup, and football pitches are spreading across the country.

Tell me more

In 2018, Panama's men's team played in the FIFA World Cup for the very first time. It was a huge moment - the country had been trying for over a hundred years to get to the World Cup. Schools across Panama gave children a day off school to watch.

Many children play football alongside baseball. Sometimes one neighbourhood loves football and the next prefers baseball. Some pupils show up to school with two pairs of shoes in their bag: one for baseball cleats and one for football boots.

Football matches in Panama don't always need a fancy pitch. Children play on patches of grass, on basketball courts, in the playground, even on the beach with shoes for goalposts. The rules adjust to fit the space.

Panama's national stadium - Estadio Rommel Fernández - is in Panama City. It can hold over 30,000 fans. Big matches there can feel like the whole country is in one place at once, shouting, drumming and cheering.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

01Why might one sporting moment - like a country's first World Cup - mean so much to a whole country?
02You can play football anywhere, with almost anything. What is your favourite 'anywhere' game?
03Do you have a sport where the rules change depending on where you play it? What changes?

Try this

Classroom activity

Draw a Panama-shaped goal-celebration scene: who is in the stadium, what flags are flying, what does the crowd look like? Or: as a class, organise a 5-minute 'anywhere football' match in the playground - chalk goals, no fancy gear. Talk about what's different.

Football in Panama

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Discussion prompts

Classroom activity

Other things that make Panama special

Want your class to meet Panama?