Two FIFA-backed mini-pitches are installed at Oakland Unified campuses. Starting in 2026-27, the district is training K-8 educators district-wide to use them — no soccer background required.

At Montera Middle School in Oakland, a FIFA-sponsored mini soccer pitch opened in April 2025 — one of only two such installations at U.S. school campuses under the U.S. Soccer Federation's community partnership. Principal Latoya Williams remembers students monitoring the construction site daily. "The kids would run by and go, 'Are they done yet?'" she told KTVU. "'When is it going to be done? When are we getting on the field? We want to know when we can play.'"

The pitch has been waiting. What's coming this fall is the lesson plan.

Oakland Unified School District announced this week that starting in the 2026-27 school year, it will expand its "Soccer at Schools" program through a partnership with the Soccer Forward Foundation — U.S. Soccer's community-impact arm, launched in connection with the FIFA World Cup 2026 — to train educators across the district on integrating soccer into the school day.

A second FIFA-backed field sits at the Calvin Simmons campus, which houses Life Academy and United for Success Academy, and was funded through the Bay Area Host Committee and EA Sports. Construction brought new turf, fencing, goals, a center-field design, and a mural.

The curriculum targets K-8 classrooms and provides ready-to-use lesson plans, skill videos, and activities aligned to SHAPE America's national physical education standards — built specifically for educators with little or no soccer background. OUSD's Expanded Learning Office is managing the teacher-training component. "We can't introduce a sports program without caring adults being part of it," Chen Kong-Wick, who oversees that office, told KTVU.

On the delivery side, the initiative runs through the Oakland Athletic League and draws on Oakland Genesis — which has worked inside OUSD schools since 2019 — as well as Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul. Cody Pillon, founder of Oakland United and executive director of Oakland Genesis, is a primary partner on the ground.

Superintendent Denise Saddler, in a statement to NBC Bay Area, described the goal plainly: "Through Soccer at Schools, OUSD is working alongside partners to enhance the educational experiences of Oakland students."

What the district has not disclosed: how many educators will be trained before the fall rollout begins, or which specific schools beyond Montera and the Calvin Simmons campus are in the first wave. No permit filings or construction cost figures for either field installation appear in Oakland's city development records or OUSD's public capital projects listings.

The 2026-27 school year is weeks out. The pitches are in the ground. The list of schools slated for the first round of educator training has yet to be made public.