Croatia and England fans bring soccer celebrations to Dallas

Fans on both sides are celebrating with parties, parades and plenty of team spirit.

Fans from Croatia and England are making their way to North Texas ahead of their teams’ match on Wednesday at Dallas Stadium in Arlington.

In downtown Dallas, members of the Croatia fan group Mi Hrvati — which means “we Croatians” — are planning a celebration Tuesday night at Civic Park. The group says it expects to fill the area with Croatian pride.

“We pretty much expect to turn Dallas red and white,” said Klemintina Mikus from Mi Hrvati fan group.

At the center of the celebration will be an iconic Croatian flag longer than a football field.

“It takes 100 people to carry it,” Mikus said. “We're going to have some horse riders, we're going to have carriages, we're going to have Croatian music.”

Mikus said the location was selected for a reason.

“This location was chosen because it's really close to the JK Memorial. And the Mihiravati fan group really wanted to also pay respects to America with this parade,” said Mikus.

Just around the corner, English fans are also preparing for a major party Tuesday night at The Londonder.

A fan said English supporters are ready to bring the energy.

“Too rowdy, Americans got nothing on the English!,” an English fan said.

The pub’s assistant general manager said the Londonder is expecting to host at least 200 English fans and is making sure the pub is fully staffed.

“We host it here all the time. They come here because we make sure they have a good time,” said Isaac Hines, assistant general manager for the Londonder.

The fans may be on opposite sides, each rooting for a win, but they are bonded by mutual respect and pride for soccer. Both fan groups said anyone is welcome to join the celebrations.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.