By Izzy Stein, Staff Writer
Good news for football fans as it was announced that the world’s largest sporting event will be hosted on North American soil in 2026: The FIFA World Cup. Contrary to common misconception, this football is celebrated globally as “The World’s Game,” and does not involve athletes chasing each other in head-to-toe polyester bodysuits. It does however garner more viewers than both the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl, with 1.5 billion people across the world who tuned in to watch the final in 2023. For the purposes of continuity and in an effort to keep the peace, the predominantly used term “football” will be substituted with the adopted term “soccer” throughout this article.
The FIFA World Cup started in 1930 as a way to bring the best men’s soccer players together in an international competition. Since then, it has reoccurred every four years to mass support with fans selling their life savings to support their country and players facing the risk of being glorified or hated by their nations.
For sophomore international relations major Victoria Nazar, the World Cup is a big deal. Hailing from Tucumán, Argentina, her love for the game was practically a birthright.
“The World Cup for Argentinian people is everything. It is when the whole country unites at once, it is the only thing that makes us all think the same way and support the same side…a lot of people say it is one of the only times where everyone in Argentina was rooting for the same cause,” she shared.
For Nazar and the people of Argentina, it is more than a game. Reflecting on Argentina’s 2023 World Cup win, led by martyr Lionel Messi, she discussed the ability for the sport to bring people together.
“We are here as people watching the game, but there are actually players playing in it, and we still feel that we are a part of it even though we may not personally know the players. I think that it is a big thing for everyone and for people to be able to watch it at home, together, it was the best thing ever.”
Any event that can transcend how we define sports requires a venue capable of fulfilling past displays of unity amongst spectators.
This is an important task for the countries of North America as it was announced that matches would be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the grand final match in the soccer capital of the United States…New Jersey?
FIFA shared that the final will be hosted in MetLife Stadium which is just seven miles from Manhattan, sitting amongst the marshlands and concrete highways of the “garden state.” Notorious for hosting the losing streaks of the New York Giants and Jets, the tournament will be a nice change for locals and season pass holders of the stadium who can purchase tickets when they go on sale in 2025.
Spectators will be able to access all that New Jersey has to offer: beautiful scenery, Bruce Springsteen, diners (many of them) and American Dream, the second-largest mall in the nation.
New Jersey native and sophomore film major Chris Mitchell defended his birthplace amongst the wave of online criticism that has circulated since the announcement.
“I feel like we are predominantly known for the TV show [Jersey Shore] and that creates a lot of preconceived ideas on what it is really like, but having grown up on the Jersey Shore it is not like the show and there is a lot of personality from each person, everyone is very welcoming,” Mitchell remarked.
An avid sports fan himself, Mitchell provided insight into his understanding of soccer in the United States and the impact that a World Cup final could have on New Jersey.
“I know our women’s team is very good but our men’s team is terrible…I understand the sport, I played it…not very well. I would say that most people play either soccer or basketball, organized or recreationally, so it does have a presence and a World Cup here will definitely bring back some popularity.”
Despite over 13 million Americans participating in some form of outdoor soccer in 2022, soccer isn’t exactly synonymous with success in the United States – or men’s soccer that is. Let’s not forget that the US women have won their respective World Cup four times and are currently ranked second in the world.
If participation rates are only predicted to increase, why is it that our men’s team at times struggles to even qualify for major tournaments like the World Cup?
Mitchell suspects that this has more to do with culture than anything else.
“I think that soccer is such a tradition in so many countries that a lot of their culture is based around it and ours really isn’t,” he explained.
Graduate Business major Caroline Nuttall, a student-athlete on the women’s soccer team, echoed a similar sentiment, bringing up the differences between players in the US and European system.
“The standard and level of play is different and it’s because people pay to play here. In other words, parents will pay a certain amount for their children to play for a club for a year whereas in European countries you start at a level in academies and work your way up to get promoted…the initiative is completely different as people are paying to play versus being paid to play,” Nuttall explained.
Nuttall has been competing at an elite level in soccer for the majority of her life and has had experience with the professional pathways in the US.
“In the European countries you have 14-year-olds making it pro and that’s not because they are born better than us, but it’s because they are in a system where they are on track to the first team. Whereas here the angle is college and being able to pay for your education…the goal is not to play professionally, so there is no standard to reach the highest level,” she said.
Although critical of the flaws of soccer in the United States, Nuttall does think that a World Cup on home ground is a step in the right direction.
“You know you see Messi, Suarez and Busquets coming over to play and that just shows how much it’s changing. What separates us from Europe is that we have a lot of money to invest in the professional sports world and Americans want to offer their investments to a successful team…so the standard is going up and a World Cup here will only enhance that,” Nuttall explained.
The 2026 World Cup will officially begin Thursday, June 11 with two games in Mexico. In the meantime, fans can look to the professional US men’s and women’s leagues (MLS and NWSL) which continue to grow and produce home-grown talent.
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