There are few, if any, spectators. The games are played in worn T-shirts. And the lights aren’t as bright as at the World Cup.
But they’re on.
To celebrate its status as a World Cup host city, New York is keeping the lights on overnight at one soccer field in each of the five boroughs for the length of the tournament.
But who on earth would want to play soccer around midnight on a weekday?
Russel Hasnat of Midwood, Brooklyn, knows one group of people: His 60-member “Football Family.”
“We’re just working guys trying to play,” Mr. Hasnat said.
The players, who coordinate their games in a group chat, met in New York City but come from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Mexico, Egypt and elsewhere. They’re a mix of contractors, doctors, one Taekwondo instructor, cousins, friends and fathers. They’ve long scoured the city for a place to play pickup soccer late on Tuesday nights, a rare time that is free for everyone. Some of their games have ended with a police summons for being in a park after hours.
“It’s tough getting spaces,” said Mr. Hasnat, 37.
So he was thrilled to find himself surrounded by his extended soccer family under the lights and a full moon at Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, Brooklyn. After some stretching and catching up, the men kicked off a little after 10 p.m. on a recent Tuesday.
Other players attracted by the lights included pickup soccer nomads and young people with a serious case of World Cup fever.
Hundreds of people have shown up to play across the city each night, said Maya Handa, a former campaign manager for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a soccer fanatic. The mayor named Ms. Handa to a new and temporary position of “World Cup czar.”
Handa called the program, privately funded to the tune of $800,000, “in many ways a pilot” as the city looks to expand access to sports, particularly affordable ones like soccer, which requires not much more than open space, a ball and enough light to see it.
“There is high demand, and we’re excited to meet that,” Ms. Handa said.
New Yorkers came out to play the beautiful game beneath dark skies for different reasons.
Daniel Bishop, 19, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, said he had not played soccer for years until the World Cup inspired him to stop by Calvert Vaux Park. He was kicking a ball around with an older man he met that night.
They discovered they both spoke Russian.
“He told me to find a good woman,” Mr. Bishop said.
The action continued nearby for Mr. Hasnat’s group, whose game ran longer than the typical 90 minutes. Winning would be nice, but for Gazzaly Mahmud, 25, a construction manager from Kensington, Brooklyn, what he wanted most was to clear his head.
“I got yelled at today for 30 minutes straight” Mr. Mahmud said, recalling his day at work. “When you’re playing, everything is quiet for a bit.”
Tasbih Shariar, 25, also of Kensington, is a goalie in the “Football Family.” The action in Gravesend came to him in bursts. When it was slow, Mr. Shariar said he enjoyed the breeze.
“It’s really beautiful out here,” Mr. Shariar said.
As midnight approached, the players took a break and some gathered on the field to kneel in prayer.
“We’ve never not played in the last 10 years,” Mr. Hasnat said. “That’s the love of the game. The World Cup helps.”
Across the city in Queens on a recent Thursday night, a youth team started by local Islamic organizations filtered away from the field at Astoria Park around 10 p.m. as the adults took over.
The field had attracted people from around the city, including Alejandro Sebastian Riera, 20, who took the L train to the G to the 7 to the R from Ridgewood, Queens.
Mr. Riera, a college student, said he grew up playing on dirt fields in Ecuador. He’s found the pickup scene in New York City to be livelier, and kinder. He can find a game pretty much anywhere.
“I’m using soccer to explore the boroughs,” Mr. Riera said.
Sino Yzbashi, 19, of Flushing, and Indrit Ymeraj, 27, of Astoria, were no strangers to Astoria Park, where night games they’ve played in the past have had to stop early when the city shuts the lights off, around 10 or 11 p.m. They said it’s difficult to find space earlier in the day, when the field is often booked or reserved for youth programs.
“It’s the summer and everyone wants to play,” Mr. Yzbashi said. “Now we’re getting good games.”
Brittany Pope showed up in lacrosse shoes, having been convinced to try soccer by Emma Balazs. Both are 31 and live in Astoria.
Ms. Pope, originally from Idaho, said she had met most of her friends in the city through L.G.B.T.Q. sports leagues.
“I’ve never had a queer community before,” Ms. Pope said. “I’ve found others who share similar life experiences, who grew up in similar ways and have similar passions.”
As the crowd thinned around 11 p.m., Mr. Yzbashi and Mr. Ymeraj started counting heads with Yusuf Durmic, 20, trying to see if they had enough to start a game. Ms. Pope and Ms. Balazs were in.
The game started and Mr. Durmic began yelling at a longtime teammate: his younger brother, Muhamed Durmic, 17.
“I don’t care,” the younger Durmic brother said. “We argue a lot and then we love each other.”
The game next to them included Adam Rouzaqui, 20, of Astoria who said he had scored around 10 goals. Most of the other players in the match were members of his family, he said.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Rouzaqui said. “It brought us together.”
Another wave of players arrived around midnight, members of group chats called “Astoria Pickup” and “Lady Ballers.”
Tyler Morin, 28, of Astoria, said Mr. Mamdani had once played in his Thursday league in the neighborhood, before he was mayor.
For the midnight match, Mr. Morin joined a team featuring three people he knew already.
“If you play with the same person 10 times, at some point you have to become friends,” Mr. Morin said. “The same people you go to karaoke with become the same people you get red and yellow cards with.”
Elsewhere on the field, Hoon Lee, 39, of Astoria, was wrapping up a solitary practice of his penalty kicks. He had just finished a full shift at his job as a restaurant cook and said he kept his soccer ball and jersey in the corner of the kitchen.
“I’m kind of tired,” Mr. Lee said. “But not too tired.”