America is excited about the World Cup, and it’s showing up in an unexpected place: trade statistics.
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States along with Canada and Mexico, not only fans gearing up to watch their teams play, but businesses also began stocking up on soccer-related merchandise a year before kickoff.
Soccer balls in particular are getting a lot of attention in America, and the numbers don’t lie.
U.S. soccer ball imports reached nearly $40 million in the first four months of 2026, the highest four-month import value since 2002, the first year for which monthly data is available, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census trade data.
“The surge in imports is a testament to the power of the World Cup to popularize soccer in the United States,” said Gary Hufbauer, an economist at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics. “This phenomenon is part of a larger trend of soccer joining soccer and basketball as major sports.”
Import data also shows that companies have begun preparations as early as 2025. Based on USA TODAY analysis, US soccer ball imports from August 2025 to April 2026 also reached the highest level compared to the same period last year.
The surge in imports to a record high is due to accelerating global preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The World Cup will be held from June 11th to July 19th and will feature 48 national teams competing in three host countries in North America.
The largest expansion tournament in World Cup history will see matches played in 11 host cities across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Philadelphia, Houston and Kansas City.
There is a commotion going on. The U.S. men’s national soccer team advanced to the final tournament. Pulisic and Balogun are starting to become famous. Immigrant communities from soccer-playing countries gather at watch parties to cheer on their home teams. Scottish fans drank Boston Dry beer and Norwegian fans created an internet sensation with their “Viking Row” celebration. The joy and celebration, along with the heartbreak of the fans of the defeated nation, resonates with people at the stadium and at home.
In addition to soccer balls, U.S. companies stocked up on soccer-related products such as jerseys and shoes months, and in some cases more than a year, before the tournament.
Nicholas Duenas, owner of Boston Soccer Shop in Cambridge, said he had been preparing his products for six to eight months.
Duenas has been running his store for 15 years and is seeing the highest number of customers ever. “Soccer is getting really crazy,” Duenas said. “We’ve been very busy.”
Duenas expected sales to spike in the weeks leading up to the tournament, and said customers were coming from all walks of life, including fans from abroad.
Hundreds of miles away, soccer and rugby import manager Gus Avalos said he started preparing for the World Cup sale almost a year ago, placing early bulk orders from Adidas, Nike and Puma, with some items arriving before Christmas last year.
Still, customer demand is “exceeding expectations,” Avalos said.
Avalos said the chain, which his father founded in the 1990s and currently operates six retail stores in Connecticut and New York, nearly doubled sales in June compared to last June.
“This is a great boost for business every four years,” Avalos said. “(The World Cup) is definitely more exciting because it’s the first time it’s been held in the United States since 1994 and people can drive to the games.”
Avalos and Duenas’ sales growth provides a glimpse into how major sporting events can drive customer spending, as fan enthusiasm quickly translates into product purchases.
“From a planning perspective, large sporting events create short, concentrated demand windows,” said Rohit Tripathi, vice president of industry strategy and manufacturing at RELEX, a retail and supply chain planning technology company.
Tripathi said it is important for business owners to offer their products in the right place, at the right price point and at the right time to meet short-term spikes in demand.
This import surge was primarily driven by a small number of major manufacturing locations.
The main supplier of soccer balls this year was Pakistan, followed by China and Indonesia.
Soccer ball production has deep roots in Sialkot, Pakistan, known worldwide for its hand-stitched soccer balls, including the official ball of the World Cup.
Hufbauer said that while working as an advisor in Pakistan decades ago, he noticed that manufacturing soccer balls and other sporting goods was a tradition in Pakistani families, that craftsmanship was often passed down through families, and that young workers learned skills across generations.
China continues to be the second-largest supplier of soccer balls to the United States this year, but between January and April of this year, U.S. imports from China fell to the lowest level in 20 years.
“The decline in imports from China is completely explained by economic sanctions,” Hufbauer said, pointing to the U.S.’s significant tariffs and trade restrictions on Chinese goods.
“China’s loss is Pakistan’s gain”
