In the early 1990s, a group of passionate footballers had the challenging aspiration of making American sports fans fall in love with their game so that the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA™ would be a resounding success.

The task of carving out a space in the hearts of the North American public would be an enormous one in a country then dominated by sports such as baseball, American football, basketball and hockey.

One of the aforementioned cohort was FIFA Legend and former USA defender Marcelo Balboa, who is one of the most capped players in the history of the Stars and Stripes. "We had to do everything back then. We had to get dressed in our cars, train on the beach and even handle our own publicity, such as doing interviews," he reveals.

"We might have to drive two hours to take part in a TV programme or do an interview. Then we’d return in the afternoon and do football training for an hour," says the 56-year-old, who played professionally between 1987 and 2002.

Yet by dint of a huge effort and considerable sacrifice, they succeeded. "We knew that soccer was going to grow and become a popular sport in the United States. My parents are Argentinian and have always been excited about the Copa America and the World Cup. With there being so many immigrants in the USA, we knew that football would take off sooner or later, and the springboard for that was the World Cup, where we set an attendance record that still has not been beaten," he says of the 1994 edition, which saw a cumulative attendance of 3,587,538, breaking the previous record by more than one million.

Now, more than three decades later, the FIFA World Cup will return to the United States in 2026, and the landscape looks completely different. "Football has grown a great deal and bears no resemblance to the sport I knew back then; we paved the way for later generations," he explains. "Now most of our international players are with clubs in Europe. We have players at the likes of AC Milan, Chelsea and Juventus, some of the best teams in the world."

"Now the pressure is on the players and the Federation, because they have to do something special. In 1994 there was no pressure on us. Now there is but that comes with the growth of soccer, which is what we wanted. We achieved it thanks to a lot of sacrifice from players in the 90s."

But before the country, together with Mexico and Canada, can set about making the FIFA World Cup 26™ the greatest spectacle on the planet, the USA will host the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, another of the Strategic Objectives for the Global Game: 2023-2027 that forms part of the vision of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

"That also demonstrates how much we’ve grown and how much we love this sport. It's really nice to see the passion that there is now for soccer. I’d have loved to play at a Club World Cup, but I’ll just have to support Mexican club León in 2025."

An American supporting a Mexican team? "Well, I played there and they treated me very well," he explains. "Being an American player in Mexico wasn’t easy because of the huge rivalry between our national teams. So, when I put on the USA jersey, they booed me, but whenever I wore the emerald colours of Leon, they were very nice to me. I was treated really well by the club and their fans."

Balboa’s experience perfectly exemplifies how football unites the world. "The FIFA World Cup 26 will be the first edition hosted by three countries. It will be spectacular, entertaining and seen by everyone. So football will send a message of unity by showing how the shared efforts of three countries can make a great event. I expect it to be one of the best World Cups – only bettered by the 1994 edition," he says with a smile.

Moreover, visitors to the United States will not lack for things to do. "I came to Los Angeles when I was five or six years old. California has wonderful weather, beaches, and plenty of things to do. So, everyone should take advantage of all that and go out and enjoy it," he concludes.