From Al Ahly to Palmeiras, soccer supporters from all over the world have flocked to the United States this summer
Mohamed Ahmadi wasn’t expecting to see so much red and gold. The Al Ahly fan, who has followed his side around the world for 20 years in nearly as many countries, had managed his expectations ahead of arriving at Miami International Airport.
But as he walked off the plane and into baggage claim, he saw an abundance of red and gold, the colors of his club’s jersey. Ahmadi knew he would encounter countless familiar faces on this trip to the U.S. for the 2025 Club World Cup – after all, he had built a significant network in all of his years of traveling.
What he didn’t expect, though, were people he didn’t know, rooting for his team.
“I have found many, many come to support the team, strangers I have never met. It’s a good surprise,” Ahmadi told GOAL.
And such has been the story, repeated countless times, for fans traveling for the CWC. This has been a contentious tournament in many ways, including plenty of chatter before the tournament around why fans shouldn’t – or in some cases, couldn’t – come to the United States this summer.
And while some of those concerns remain valid, FIFA says that some 1.5 million tickets have been sold to fans from more than 130 countries for the 2025 Club World Cup. The power of soccer supporters is clear, with hundreds of thousands from countries that you might not expect pouring into the U.S. to attend a tournament that means so much for so many people.
“It was a good chance to meet together again. But yes, I'm surprised by how many of us have come to join and support the team,” Ahmadi said.
He is a perfect case study for the type of supporters making the commitment to attend the competition this summer. Ahmdi is originally from Egypt, but lives in London, working for a government-related company. He has followed the Egyptian side throughout North Africa and the Middle East. And when the opportunity arose for him to come to the U.S. for this expanded, 32-team iteration of the Club World Cup, he seized it.
There are countless others like him. While European clubs have established fan bases, and always have a larger number of supporters who will travel to matches, the real story of this summer’s tournament – already – has been the enthusiasm shown for teams that would not otherwise normally play games in the U.S. Mamelodi Sundowns, Ulsan HD, Auckland City and Palmeiras – just to name a few – brought strong contingents of fans to the country.
Dennis Katsanos'A lot of people spent a lot of money'
Auckland City’s story will go down in footballing lore. The semi-pro team from Sandringham, a suburb of Auckland, are on an entirely different level to the kind of heavyweight teams they are facing in this tournament. Some of their players are literally taking unpaid leave from their jobs to play this summer. And their fans, in turn, have turned up in force.
It shouldn’t come as a shock that there isn’t a following of the club in the United States. But that hasn’t deterred the locals from the island nation, who have made the journey in a show of support. Blair Shaw is one such example.
A youth soccer coach who volunteers with the club on the weekend, he and nearly 30 others paid out of their own pockets to follow the team – which plays in a home stadium with a capacity of 3,500. Shaw says he spent more than $10,000 for what will in all likelihood be just three group games in the United States – including their CWC opener, in which Auckland City got, well, blasted by Bayern Munich, 10-0.
But for him and his small but mighty contingent, it’s worth every single penny.
“Because it's such a big event, and it may be the only one we ever get to go to, a lot of people spent a lot of money and sacrificed a lot to actually get here and make it happen,” he said. “So it’s really, really, really special.”
AdvertisementMohamed Ahmadi'I have met about 1,000 of my friends'
Some followers have come in more significant numbers. Al Ahly are the biggest club in North Africa, by both value and trophy count. This is a historic setup that gets little attention in the U.S. – such is the largely Eurocentric attitude that the country has towards soccer.
But the opening match of the tournament rubbished that notion. An estimated 40,000 Al Ahly fans poured into Hard Rock Stadium in Florida for a 0-0 draw with Inter Miami in the kickoff match of the Club World Cup, and thousands more gathered elsewhere during the game. Miami manager Javier Mascherano, who is used to away games featuring heavy fanbases for his own club, remarked that it was actually a hostile environment for his club to play in.
“We knew we were up against a strong team…The nerves and anxiety played a trick on us in the first half,” he admitted.
Ahmadi is glad the rest of the world took notice.
“I believe it was a good surprise for all football followers when they found out the amount of people,” he said, “how it was massive against Inter Miami.”
It was a chance, for him, to see plenty of supporters he has met in person while traveling to other games in other countries, as well as put faces to names he had connected with online for years. He estimated that 1,000 people he already knew were in attendance – some of them he hadn’t connected with in a long while.
“From my network, I have met about 1,000 of my friends, some of them we haven’t seen for 10-15 years,” he said.
And then there are the new connections.
“I’m staying at a hotel where I met many new friends from the Netherlands, from Egypt, from Saudi Arabia, from the Emirates, from Kuwait, from the UK,” he said. “We met by chance. We have never met before, but by chance. We all came for the same reason.”
Getty'The vibe is always great'
Shuga Mabunda retired in 2021. But he hasn’t quite been able to let Mamelodi Sundowns go. He and the club have an excellent relationship to this day, the former defensive midfielder taking on an ambassadorial role for the team. And for the summer, the South African giants have enlisted him as not only their biggest fan but also the perfect influencer – the man both behind and in front of the camera.
“The vibe is always great, especially because being able to see local or South African football team competing globally is always what every every person wanted to see,” Mabunda said.
Mabunda has chronicled his journey over recent days. Here he is making friends with Ah Ahly fans. There he goes talking to a plausibly inebriated man in a Brazil shirt, who, somehow, has not only seen the Sundowns play, but also is also a good friend of their center forward.
“Let’s go together to Brazil!,” the unnamed fan remarks. “Arthur Sales, I know him! Very good player, very nice guy!”
And it’s not just the locals. Mabunda is expecting a fine traveling contingent, too.
“South Africans are reaching out and saying ‘We want to come to the games, we want to come and support,’ “ he said. “We definitely know that we will have people chanting and supporting the club.”
Getty'They have the same passion and energy as us'
Park Yeeun is a manager at HD Hyundai. For years, the company has had close ties with Ulsan HD, one of two Asian clubs represented in the Club World Cup. Their following in their native Korea is massive. In America, the club’s impact is comparatively small.
Ulsan HD’s marketing is robust enough, but their solution has been to interact with the fans in other ways. Park and other HD Hyundai employees have followed Ulsan fans throughout their K-League campaign to date, and introduced a contest for supporters to collect stamps at various fixtures. With seven stamps, they are eligible to enter a team vote to pick which fans can travel to the U.S for the CWC.
“The Uslan HD players selected the fans, and they have the same passion and energy as us,” Park said.
There will be others, in larger numbers, but Park insists that it can be a perfect way to incentivize fans to get involved.
“We hope this tournament marks the beginning of a new chapter,” Kim Subin, co-worker of Park and also a manager at HD Hyundai, said.