- Soccer, fútbol or football—the world's most popular sport—takes center stage as the United States, Canada and Mexico co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
- An education at Syracuse University opens doors to a variety of career paths in the sports world.
- Whether scoring goals on the pitch, managing logistics or enhancing the fan experience, Syracuse University athletes, alumni and students are at the center of the action.
On the Pitch
Miles Robinson controls the ball during his playing days at Syracuse, where he helped the Orange reach their first College Cup in 2015.
Tajon Buchanan spent two seasons with the Orange in 2017–18, before launching a professional career that reached Spain's LaLiga.
Former Orange men’s soccer standouts, Miles Robinson and Tajon Buchanan, are suiting up for two host nations this summer.
A key piece of Syracuse’s squad that made its first College Cup appearance in 2015, Robinson went on to become the second overall pick of the 2017 Major League Soccer (MLS) Super Draft. He’s now a starter for FC Cincinnati and a defender for the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT), a team he helped reach the quarterfinals of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Ali Howard, who joins the Syracuse women's soccer program this fall, celebrates with her father, USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Buchanan is playing in his second World Cup. In his debut, he provided the assist on Canada’s historic first-ever World Cup goal in 2022. The dynamic forward played two seasons with the Orange in 2017–18 before launching a professional career that took him to Villarreal CF in Spain’s LaLiga.
The Orange’s connection to the World Cup runs into the future, too. This fall, Ali Howard—daughter of legendary USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard—joins the Syracuse women’s soccer program.
Behind the Scenes
Raj Saha ’97 (third from left) with FIFA colleagues at the tournament, where he serves as executive director of venue business strategy.
A global spectacle doesn’t run itself. Behind every match, Orange alumni and students are managing venues, broadcast infrastructure, team logistics and fan experiences across three countries. The following is just a glimpse of Syracuse’s presence at the tournament:
Raj Saha ’97 has attended World Cups as a fan since 1994. This summer, he is serving as FIFA’s executive director of venue business strategy, a role he has been preparing for since joining the tournament planning effort in 2022. “I am really looking forward to seeing all the fans—more than 6 million of them—from around the world come to our matches and enjoy the tournament that we are putting on,” he says.
Melissa (Klein) Tremel ’90 in Seattle, where she serves as broadcast operations stadium manager for the tournament.
In Seattle, Melissa (Klein) Tremel ’90 is serving as broadcast operations stadium manager, helping coordinate the infrastructure that brings matches to television audiences around the world. “Everyone I work with is the best in their field and we use the newest, most cutting-edge technology available,” she says. “The world is watching, and I have contributed my part to bringing the games to the wider world.”
Jake Cohen ’25 is working directly with national teams as a transport coordinator, helping move players, coaches and staff between airports, hotels, training facilities and match venues. “I am not just working for the people within the delegation such as players and staff, but also the millions of people back home in their countries to whom they represent,” he says. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I fully think through the magnitude of what I am supporting.”
Casey Hornbeek '27 has come a long way since his family first sparked his soccer love. Now interning with ABSOLUT Sport — and still bringing the parents to games.
Three undergraduate students— Casey Hornbeek ’27, Andrew Eber ’29 and Maddie Rossomondo ’29—are on the ground this summer in New York City, working with ABSOLUT Sport, a global hospitality company serving high-end clients throughout the tournament.
“As someone who first fell in love with soccer at a World Cup 12 years ago, I’m thrilled to see the greatest tournament in the world on our home soil firsthand,” says Hornbeek, a broadcast digital journalism major in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and sport management minor in the David B. Falk College of Sport. He attended the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when he lived with his family in South America for two years as a kid and has been hooked ever since.
Jake Cohen '25 works directly with World Cup national teams — helping move players, coaches, and staff between airports, hotels, training facilities, and match venues.
Eber and Rossomondo, both Falk College sport management majors, are equally excited to turn their passion into a career. “Being a part of a large multinational event like the World Cup is an opportunity that doesn’t come around often,” Eber says.
Rossomondo is drawn to how the World Cup builds community. “What excites me most is being able to contribute to something that brings together people from all over the world—different cultures and fans—through the love of the sport,” she says.
Research Moving the Game Forward
Brazil faces Morocco before a packed house in New York/New Jersey during the 2026 World Cup.
While the tournament unfolds on the field, Syracuse students and faculty are studying, predicting and reimagining the sport from every angle.
- Members of Falk College’s Soccer Analytics Club spent the weeks leading up to the tournament building win-probability models, heat maps and performance projections for all 48 competing nations—forecasting favorites, dark horses and how far the U.S. will advance.
- Abdulai Jibril Barrie ’26, an industrial and interaction design major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, traveled to Guinea to study how soccer is played across West Africa—on packed sand, gravel and worn urban ground. His research project, “Boot of Dreams,” focused on designing footwear that better serves the millions of players the mainstream market has overlooked.
- Falk professor emeritus Rick Burton ’79 co-authored The Rise of Major League Soccer: Building a Global Giant (Lyons Press, 2025), tracing MLS’s transformation from a struggling experiment into a global force. MLS and Syracuse University also recently launched an initiative giving current and former players, coaches and staff access to Syracuse online degree programs.
- Newhouse professor Anne Osborne has spent years studying the psychology of sports fandom. “Fandom is about finding a community of people who share an interest and then developing and nurturing that interest,” she says. “Having that connection to a team, to a player makes you feel a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”
Whatever you call the game, the 2026 World Cup carries a distinctly Orange thread—woven into a global movement that belongs to fans everywhere.
