Who Does World Cup Fandom The Best?
Plus, Pickup Soccer Is The Purest Form of Camraderie.
Welcome back to OffBall FC, it’s Madison here, checking in for another Wednesday newsletter. I’m starting to think that I need a segment name for this corner of the soccer universe. All suggestions in the comments will be noted.
But what is OffBallFC you might be asking? It’s all the best of OffBall – curating the most fun and talked-about content from the sports culture internet – but for soccer. Each week, you’ll get a newsletter from creative lead and journalist Daniel-Yaw Miller (lifelong lover/victim of Arsenal) and unique perspectives and insight from pro soccer player Madison Hammond (Man City Girl, but don’t let that frighten you). OffBallFC is capturing the conversation around the game differently – going deep on the style, music, and brands influencing the game and exclusive interviews with our favorite creators, athletes and brand builders at the heart of it.
The World Cup starts tomorrow in our very own backyard(s). As a kid, I never thought about the possibility of the sport’s biggest tournament coming back to our home soil. I think that was because the true cultural footprint of the sport didn’t grab hold until I was already playing it at an elite level, and had become my day in and day out.
The pre-tournament anticipation has ramped up in recent months, and after tales of unsavory flight paths, field conditions and transportation nightmares in our big cities – here at OffBall, we’re all just hyped to watch the football stories unfold. I didn’t think I would feel this way, but the night before is starting to feel like Christmas Eve. I’ll be having my laptop, iPad, TV, and phone charged and ready for the best marathon watch in recent history
I came across this piece highlighting a group of old guys who play soccer every single weekend in Atlanta. And when I say old, I mean average age 73. So I started thinking about how the feelings of a pickup crew are the same camaraderie I feel during the World Cup. The best advice I received as a professional soccer player after a season of disappointing performances was to go back to playing pickup during the offseason. Just enjoy the time with the ball and remember what the good moments feel like instead of executing a tactical game plan or dealing with lineups. When I’m playing pickup I lose track of time, immersed in the game in its purest form.
While I don’t play with 73-year-olds, over time I have been connected with groups ranging from 18-year-old MLS prospects and current NWSL pros, to MLS greats like Cobi Jones and even the random day with Steve Nash. The love for the game is waking up before work to get a 45-minute pickup game in, with weird rules because nobody runs as fast as they used to, but their appreciation and love for the game is next to none. That’s what it feels like to watch the World Cup.
It’s a specific moment in time that reflects not only your pride in a team, but your own identity. And within that identity, it’s more than what city you represent, but what food and culture is going head to head on the day. And that pride is born in the small moments, on messed-up turf fields in different types of neighborhoods that bring a lot of people together to do just one thing: play. There’s an understanding that this tournament draws that same type of community together in a global way with an invisible string that suddenly rings loud and proud.
For the loudest and proudest, here are some of our favorite fan moments this week:
For the fans in South Korea, that loud and proud momentum kicks off with a keg stand. The South Korean National Team is training at the Chivas training facility in Jalisco, Mexico. It’s a no-brainer that one of the most loyal fan bases in the world followed their team to training. But in-between sessions they’ve made sure to get their own (North) American culture in.
We have to talk about the German fan who is touring the Southeast one American site at a time. Those sites include Waffle House, and I want to know if they are rolling out the red carpet for internationals because I wanna know how he got “friendly service. And while the tournament is exciting, this reflection on Taco Bell is sending me. Only America’s finest of dining establishments. RIP to his stomach the next three weeks. But personally, I can’t wait for him to meet up with the German saxophone player outside of a Walmart next.
Our Viking communities always bring the most spiritual fandom moments. I can’t wait to see this motion at the WC game as Haaland bags a brace or two. Also, the Norway team itself went all out with this pre-tournament Viking-inspired shoot.
And here’s our new collective grandpa…he’s just happy that Algeria is here to play. You can’t tell me that he doesn’t deserve the world.
My personal favorite moment is that I will be referring to our men’s national team as the Mutant Ninja Turtles. Christian Leonardo Pulisic. Tim Michelangelo Weah. Tim Raphael Ream.
If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Flaunt Magazine wrote pieces on Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman and Alex Freeman. I believe in the beauty of full-length features, and the attention to detail is refreshing.
Fellas, does staying up until 2 a.m. for some World Cup fixtures make you a creature of the night? If you haven’t actually looked at the schedule provided last week by yours truly, there might be a shock to the system when you try to pull all-nighters for certain fixtures. But everyone is feeling the work-schedule pressure trying to balance becoming a creature of the night, and a morning deadline.
Ivory Coast put France (and the world) on notice. Tune-up friendlies can always be dismissed as one-offs, but the small nation put the Frenchmen on notice after beating them 2-1. Diallo’s 84th minute winner silenced Cherki’s individual brilliance from earlier in the match. So why does the result matter? African nations are often overlooked, but this 2026 World Cup feels like a special moment to root for the smaller guys every now and then because they might surprise you.
Here’s what else the OffBallFC team and I have been watching this week in soccer culture:
Joey Bada$$ & Miles Robinson: America’s Chart Toppers (Billboard)
This World Cup Will Miss Grant Wahl’s Voice (Fútbol with Grant Wahl on Substack)
All The Soccer WAGs Taking Over Your Timeline (vantixmag on instagram)
The Group Stage Is A Choose Your Own Cinderella Adventure (NPR)
48 Teams. 48 Stories. It’s World Cup Week, Remember? (The Athletic)
The sax guy is the man! Absolute legend who went viral at the euros in Germany in 2024.