The United States national soccer team has received an unlikely but high-profile endorsement ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 from the Pope himself.
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S. leader of the global Catholic Church, told a journalist aboard his flight from Rome to Madrid on Saturday that he will be supporting the U.S. soccer team when the 48-team tournament starts.
“I would certainly support the US,” the pontiff declared. “I don’t know how many games I’ll be able to see but I wish them all the best.”
The US is co-hosting the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico and will begin their campaign in Group D, where they are set to face Paraguay, Australia, and Türkiye.
Born in the Chicago suburbs as Robert Prevost, Pope Leo XIV also holds Peruvian citizenship after spending decades serving as a missionary and bishop in Peru before his election as Pope.
Last year, Leo had indicated that he would support Peru over the United States if the two countries met on the football pitch. However, Peru failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup, leaving the US as the beneficiary of the Pope’s backing.
The pontiff also showed he wasn’t above some club-level allegiances while en route to Spain. When asked whether he preferred Real Madrid or Barcelona, Leo paused briefly before responding with a diplomatic split: “The Pope is for all teams,” he said, before adding with a smile, “Prevost is for Real Madrid.”
The Pope is currently on a week-long tour of Spain and the Canary Islands as excitement builds for what promises to be a landmark World Cup on home soil for the Americans.