One of the most beloved characters in the Ted Lasso universe is Dani Rojas, the Mexican-born striker who is perennially joyful and whose catchphrase is “Futbol is Life.” For U.S. Latinos, be they born in the U.S. or immigrants from Latin America, soccer might not quite be life, but it’s certainly an important element of life.
In this article, we’re going to look at why soccer is so integral to Latino culture in the United States, as well as some of the numbers that help define just how important soccer is to this group of people.
Table of Contents
- First, how many Latinos are there in the U.S.?
- Soccer provides Latinos a communal television experience
- National teams help provide a sense of identity
- Soccer players serve as role models
First, how many Latinos are there in the U.S.?
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of Latinos in the United States jumped from just over 50 million in 2010 to 62.5 million in 2021, with nearly 60 percent of those of Mexican origin. Today, nearly one in five Americans is Latino, and those numbers and percentages are expected to rise.
There are also some misnomers about English speakers and Spanish speakers in the U.S. Latino community. Thanks in large part to the rise in U.S.-born Latinos, more Latinos in the U.S. speak English than ever before — with 41.7 million Latinos in the U.S. speaking English proficiently in 2021, and 37% of Latino immigrants spoke English proficiently in 2021.
Yet, Spanish is still spoken in nearly three of four Latino households, and the language is still vital to the culture and identity of a great number of Latinos in the United States, even though English might be their primary language.
Soccer provides Latinos a communal television experience
Though MLS is gaining more and more of an audience among American soccer fans, it’s not the most popular league in the United States. You might then guess that the Premier League is most popular among U.S. fans, and though it’s made great audience gains since NBC bought the TV rights in the U.S. and pumped up promotions, you’d be wrong.
The most popular league, far and away, is Liga MX. According to World Soccer Talk, “While it’s difficult to quantify an exact average for Liga MX games because many of them are on the free-to-air Univision where TV ratings data is harder to obtain, there’s no doubt that Liga MX is the most-watched soccer league on US television.”
Mexico’s top-tier soccer league has a number of fans in the U.S., be it Mexican-born fans who took their allegiances across the border, or American-born fans who follow their family’s fandom or discover their own teams to love.
Univision is one of the prime places to watch Liga MX; a report it issued on the growth of soccer noted that the Concacaf Gold Cup bested the Euros as the top tournament of 2021, and that “64% of U.S. Hispanics believe soccer has become a more exciting sport” thanks in part to the advances made in televising soccer.
Also, soccer being called in Spanish makes a big difference for U.S. Latino fans of the sport. Their same study found that nearly 90% of Hispanic fútbol fans say they prefer to watch soccer in their own language, but over 65% of non-Hispanics also said they prefer watching games in Spanish.
National teams help provide a sense of identity
“Where are you from?” can be a complicated question for U.S. Latino fans — but it’s a question that can be answered in part with the soccer jersey you choose to wear when an international tournament rolls around.
There are a vast number of Mexican-born fans, as well as a sizable number of American fans, who support the Mexico national team.
El Tri, as they’re known, has as estimated 60 million fans in the U.S. according to a Boardroom article, with jersey sales even outpacing the U.S. El Tri plays a number of exhibition matches in the U.S. each year, filling stadiums as big as Arlington, Texas’s AT&T Stadium (with more than 100,000 capacity) with El Tri fans.
“For us, it’s a must. It is something we cannot leave behind. It’s something we need to do better every year,” says Yon de Luisa, Mexican Football Federation president, in the article’s section on its annual El Tri tour through the United States.
“Now it’s not only soccer matches. Those are fantastic, but for us, it’s about sharing this passion not only on match day but throughout the week. To be this link with Mexico and our fans in the States and to share that passion and this relationship with their families and cultural background is extremely important.
He added, “It isn’t only the 90 minutes we play on the field, it’s all of the surrounding activities that are extremely important for the federation.”
While Mexico’s the biggest example of that show for support, U.S. Latinos hailing from all parts of Latin America rep their teams at World Cup time, and show out for Gold Cup matches, World Cup qualifiers, and other occasions with the likes of Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and El Salvador play in the U.S.
And, of course, if you extend Latin America’s definition to South America, the reigning World Cup winners hail from Argentina — something that Americans with Argentine heritage will be sure to remind you whenever they get the opportunity.
But for a growing number of U.S. Latinos, the home team is becoming more and more a source of Latino pride. Players like Jesus Ferreira, Gio Reyna and Cristian Roldan made the squad, and though Ricardo Pepi narrowly missed making the 2022 squad, he was instrumental to the U.S. qualifying, and will definitely be in the running to helping the U.S. contend for the World Cup in 2026.
And for fans of the U.S. women’s national team, players like Sofia Huerta and Catarina Macario are making the roster a little more diverse than it’s been.
Soccer players serve as role models
It’s not just that soccer players provide U.S. Latinos with entertainment. Whether it’s aspiring young soccer players who model their game after talented Latino soccer players, or people just looking for the leadership that soccer players can provide, U.S. Latinos look up to and admire soccer players.
There are transcendental talents like Diego Maradona, who was mourned around the world when he died in 2020, and Pele, who died in late 2022 and was similarly mourned for his influence on the game.
But there are also talented Latino players still active in the game and making an impact on U.S. Latino fans. For El Tri fans, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is a national legend who is still doing great things with the LA Galaxy, Hector Herrera, finally in the U.S. with the Houston Dynamo, and Memo Ochoa, who only recently departed from Univision screens as a Club America fixture to play in Italy.
Between MLS and Liga MX, U.S. fans have plenty of players to follow from across the entire spectrum of Latin America. Just in MLS alone, players like Ecuador’s Jose Cifuentes, Paraguay’s Miguel Almiron, Venezuela’s Josef Martinez, Peru’s Raul Ruidiaz, and Colombia’s Carlos Valderrama are woven into the league’s historical fabric, with even more players set to write their names in the MLS digest this year and in future years.
