Americans love NFL football games, some of the highest rated programming on TV these days.  

But increasingly they’re embracing soccer-style football, especially with the FIFA World Cup coming to North America in 2026, according to a report from Stagwell’s Harris Poll.   

Harris Poll found that:  

According to the report one important way that brands can engage with fans is with athlete partnerships that “authentically magnify athletes’ personalities while driving brand awareness.” 

This approach works in part because beyond team loyalties, many soccer fans are loyal to specific soccer stars. The report found that over 60% of U.S. soccer fans say that individual athletes bring soccer to life for them. Almost half (47%) agree that they follow individual soccer stars as much or more than they follow a specific team.  

It cited Budweiser’s approach as a useful case study. It helps being the official beer sponsor (which the brand has been since 1986) but during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Budweiser partnered with star players Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., and Raheem Sterling in “The World is Yours to Take” campaign that ran in 70+ countries, aiming to drive global demand for their beer. 

The report also credited the brand with pivoting brilliantly after a last-minute ban on beer sales at the stadiums in Qatar where the tournament was played. It created the “Bring Home The Bud” campaign that included a pledge to donate all of the unsold beer that had been earmarked for stadium sales to the winning country’s fans.  

And brands would be “remiss” to overlook the burgeoning segment of female soccer fans, a third of which identify as either “obsessed” or  “dedicated” fans. The women’s World Cup is set for 2027 in Brazil. 

More broadly the report finds, 60% of Americans are excited to see the growth of women’s sport.