Japanese fans clean Dallas stadium after World Cup draw, continuing 1998 tradition, joined by NFL's Winston
Japanese football fans cleaned the stands of the Dallas stadium after their team's 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, a ritual seen at every World Cup since 1998. New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston, covering the event for Fox Sports, joined the effort.
Match and aftermath
Japan’s opening 2026 World Cup fixture ended 2‑2 against the Netherlands in Dallas on Sunday evening. Daichi Kamada struck in the 89th minute to level the score, sending the Japanese faithful into a frenzy. Amid the roar, blue plastic bags — brought specifically for cheering — waved above the stands. Within minutes of the final whistle, those bags were being put to a quieter, more familiar purpose.
A decades‑long tradition
While most fans filed out, thousands of Japanese supporters stayed behind, meticulously picking up discarded cups, napkins and wrappers and stuffing them into their bags. The custom has been a World Cup fixture since Japan’s first appearance in France in 1998, and it has been repeated at every tournament since — as well as at the Olympic Games.
It’s part of our culture, part of respect for everything: the players, the fans and the stadium. We are honoured to be here, we don’t want to leave disorder.
The attitude is nurtured early. Japanese schoolchildren clean their classrooms themselves each day, without being asked. Public bins are rare, so taking waste home is second nature. Politician and historian Koichi Nakano told AP that sports fans at international events are behaving exactly as they did when they first discovered the joy of sport as pupils. Sociologist Masachi Ohsawa added that many Japanese are highly sensitive to small‑scale moral obligations and feel a strong desire not to inconvenience anyone they share a space with — even momentarily. Eita Tanaka, 20, stood with a beer and a few cups in hand, stating simply:
We are taught to leave a place cleaner than we found it.
- Tradition first recorded at World Cup in France
- Continues at World Cup co‑hosted by Japan and Korea
- Fans clean up at World Cup in Germany
- Fans clean up at World Cup in South Africa
- Fans clean up at World Cup in Brazil
- Fans clean up at World Cup in Russia
- Fans clean up at World Cup in Qatar
- NFL star Jameis Winston joins clean‑up in Dallas
An NFL star grabs a bag
The scene drew extra attention when Jameis Winston, quarterback of the New York Giants, waded into the stands with his own blue sack. Winston, who is covering the World Cup for Fox Sports, wore a personalised Japan jersey and collected litter alongside the fans. A video of the moment, shared by Winston and the NFL on social media, showed him trailing behind a group of Japanese supporters, bag open.
Find me a single NFL player, first draft pick, who takes out his own trash bag and cleans the inside of a stadium.
Locker room and next steps
The players themselves did not miss the rhythm. Japan’s squad folded towels and training bibs into neat piles, leaving them by the dressing‑room entrance after the match. The team now head to Monterrey to face Tunisia on 21 June, before returning to the same Dallas stadium for a fixture against Sweden on 26 June.
