The United States has been the top exporter of sports superstars for decades. Think Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Tom Brady and Simone Biles.
But when it comes to the world’s most popular sport, the most recognizable faces to play on American soil — including Pelé, David Beckham and Lionel Messi — have been brought in from overseas.
Americans will get their closest look ever at the breadth of global soccer talent as the largest World Cup begins this week in 16 cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico. There are 48 teams participating, twice as many as the previous time the United States hosted the Men’s World Cup, in 1994. (It hosted the Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003.)
“We love stars in this country,” said Alan Rothenberg, a former president of the U.S. Soccer Federation and a founder of Major League Soccer. “We have fans who are knowledgeable about the world of soccer, and for the opportunity to see them firsthand, they want to take advantage of that.”
Major League Soccer has yet to develop a transcendent global athlete (sorry, Landon Donovan) and must compete for attention with European juggernauts such as the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. When Americans do pack into soccer stadiums, it is often to watch a foreigner.
In World Cup group play this month, fans in New Jersey will see the French star Kylian Mbappé; Mohamed Salah of Egypt will be a top attraction in Seattle; and Luis Diaz of Colombia will take the field in Miami.
Before you watch the World Cup, which ends in New Jersey on July 19, catch up on the legacy of three foreign-born stars who helped grow America’s interest in soccer.
New York Cosmos, 1975-1977
Pelé
In 1958, Pelé had became the youngest player to score a goal in the tournament, at the age of 17. He went on to win three World Cups. (Both individual records are unbroken.)
His star power instantly increased soccer’s visibility in the United States, and matches he played in broke records for attendance and broadcast viewership.
Rothenberg compared Pelé’s fame to Ali’s.
“Even if you weren’t a big soccer fan or weren’t even a soccer fan at all, somehow you knew that there was this guy Pelé,” he said.
Pelé retired in 1977 but served as an ambassador for soccer during the 1994 World Cup. Rothenberg said that at a 1991 event in New York to begin early promotion of that tournament, he saw cabdrivers stop to allow Pelé to jaywalk from his hotel to Central Park.
“It was as if the Red Sea parted,” Rothenberg said.
Los Angeles Galaxy, 2007-2012
David Beckham
About a decade after the creation of Major League Soccer, David Beckham arrived and altered the trajectory of the league.
By the time Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, he had won six Premier League titles with Manchester United, as well as a championship in La Liga with Real Madrid. His wife, Victoria, was a former member of the Spice Girls. The celebrity frenzy was real.
“The world is looking at my team today,” Pablo Ruiz, a Galaxy season-ticket holder, told The New York Times at Beckham’s formal introductory event with the team. More than 600 news media members from 10 countries attended. “It’s a circus, a gimmick, but it’s a good gimmick.”
Beckham won two M.L.S. Cup titles with the Galaxy and remains active in the league as a founder and owner of Inter Miami, an expansion team that began play in 2020.
Inter Miami, 2023-Present
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi’s résumé places him in consideration alongside Pelé as the greatest soccer player of all time. He won 10 titles in La Liga with F.C. Barcelona, one of the world’s most popular teams, and is its leading scorer, with more than 600 goals. In 2022 with Argentina, he won his elusive first World Cup.
After a brief stint with Paris St.-Germain, Messi shocked the sports world by joining Inter Miami in 2023. Beckham helped recruit him with an unusual financial package that included an equity stake in the team.
Messi’s pink jersey quickly became hot merchandise, and Apple TV — Major League Soccer’s media partner — reported more than 100,000 new sign-ups on the day of his American debut. Last year, Inter Miami won the M.L.S. Cup.
“The magnitude of his decision to join M.L.S. cannot be overstated,” Don Gerber, the M.L.S. commissioner, said in 2023. “We’re now not just part of the global conversation of sports, but one of the biggest stories in the world.”
When Argentina takes the field next week, Messi could become the first man to play in six World Cups. The game is in Missouri.
