For most of the FIFA World Cup final, Spain controlled the field. Argentina was pushed into a grueling defensive stand as the match remained scoreless at 90 minutes. Tension mounted inside our stadium, where more than 80,000 fans waited to see which side would finally break. Then, in extra time, Ferran Torres scored.
The stadium erupted. Spain had claimed its second World Cup. It was great theater and the best that sports has to offer: extraordinary skill, immense pressure, and players carrying the hopes of their nations while the world watched it unfold.
We were proud to host that historic final at the home of the New York Jets. For me, it brought together everything we had witnessed throughout the tournament.
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For several weeks, MetLife Stadium entered a new world each time the gates opened. Norway’s supporters introduced the Viking row to New Jersey and remained after the final whistle to celebrate with their team. The French arrived with the songs and confidence of a great footballing nation. Brazil’s supporters transformed parts of New York into Carnival.
That constant reinvention is part of what makes the World Cup unlike almost any other sporting event, and I have had a rare vantage point on it. As chairman of the Jets, a shareholder of Crystal Palace, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, I have seen what sports can mean to a local community and what shared experience can accomplish between nations.
A Premier League matchday follows a rhythm shaped over generations. Supporters return to the same ground carrying the songs, history, and relationships built with the families around them. The club is rooted in its community, and the community gives the club its identity.
The World Cup creates something else entirely. Each day, different nations take over the stadium. The field remains unchanged, but the world around it is remade from one match to the next.
That transformation unfolded across the continent. And at the same time supporters brought their own traditions, they got to experience real American culture, outside of the movies and news headlines.
International visitors sampled Texas barbecue in Dallas and Houston. Scotland’s Tartan Army sent the sound of bagpipes ringing through Boston. Fans in Los Angeles beheld the sheer scale of SoFi Stadium. Visitors packed neighborhood restaurants, hotels, public squares, and train platforms, carrying their cultures into North American cities while discovering ours.
Some of those moments were grand. Most were simple.
During my time as ambassador, I learned that people often form their deepest impressions of a country through everyday encounters rather than speeches or slogans. They remember who welcomed them: the person who helped them find the right train, the family sitting beside them in the stands, or the restaurant owner who stayed open late after the final whistle.
That is genuine diplomacy. The World Cup allowed international visitors to experience North America directly, while giving Americans the chance to encounter other nations and cultures in a personal, direct way.
Cabo Verde offered one of the clearest examples of what that exchange can mean. A nation of roughly half a million people reached its first World Cup and emerged as one of the tournament’s defining stories. For Cabo Verdeans, watching their history represented on the world’s largest stage meant far more than the result of any match.
This is the real value of expanding the tournament to 48 teams. Nations that once watched from a distance could now enter the competition and command global attention. Families crossed oceans. Supporters heard their language spoken in American streets and watched their national colors sweep through stadiums thousands of miles from home.
Traditionalists will debate an expansion of that scale, and I understand the instinct. Football has customs that have endured for generations, and they deserve to be protected. But this tournament proved the game can open itself to a wider field without sacrificing what makes it special.
The United States also left its own mark on the tournament.
The final’s halftime show paired the world’s game with the reach and spectacle of American entertainment, featuring global performers alongside New York’s own PS22 Chorus. Extending the traditional 15-minute intermission to roughly 30 minutes was new and unmistakably American.
Hosting the tournament also generated meaningful economic activity throughout North America and within the communities surrounding each venue. Visitors stayed in local hotels, ate at neighborhood restaurants, and explored areas they might never otherwise have visited. Thousands worked behind the scenes, including drivers, security personnel, hospitality workers, vendors, stadium staff, and small-business owners who experienced the impact directly.
That local reach matters. A global event succeeds only when the communities carrying it share in its benefits. The legacy cannot be confined to a stadium or measured solely through ticket sales and hotel bookings.
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Nearly a century ago, the World Cup was founded on a bold proposition: nations could express pride, rivalry, and distinction within a shared system rather than through conflict. Countries would arrive carrying their flags, histories, and ambitions, but agree to enter one field, follow one set of rules, and accept one final whistle.
The World Cup does not ask nations to surrender what makes them distinct. It creates a place where those identities can meet. North America hosted the tournament, and the U.S. had the honor of hosting its final chapter. For millions of visitors, America became more than a headline, it became the fans they met, the meals they shared, the traditions they discovered, and the hospitality they experienced. And for millions of Americans, the world’s game became a little more familiar and a little more our own. The FIFA World Cup didn’t just bring the world to America, it brought America closer to the world.
Woody Johnson is chairman of the New York Jets and a shareholder of Crystal Palace F.C. He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021.