The 6 Types of World Cup Fans in the U.S.

Over the last month that the World Cup has been going on, I have noticed a lot of hype from people that I wouldn't expect to normally know anything about soccer. It's funny how people can become such avid fans of something when it involves their country beating other countries at some kind of competition.  Case in point: I don't care about javelin, shot put, track, slalom skiing, curling, or almost any other Olympic event, but every 2 years I'm into it like my firstborn's life depends on how excited I am about it.  It's almost like cheering for the U.S. in anything shows how deep your freedom runs, and same goes for every other country (i.e. cheering for Best Korea shows how deep your fear of Captain Kim runs).

Several types of soccer fans have cropped up in the past month that I have never before encountered. Here are the 6 types of World Cup fans that we have here in the U.S.

1. Latino - "VAAAMOS PINCHE GUEEEY.......MEEEEEXICO! CHICHARITO ES DIOS!"

These guys are truest of true fans. They have been eating, sleeping, drinking, and living futbol (soccer) since they were in the womb.  These guys get together and play in the park 4 nights a week (even the 6 year old kids and the 60 year old guys).  They wear their jerseys everywhere.  They don't miss a game even if it means missing the birth of their child. They tend to suffer months of depression after the world cup because their country lost their round of 16 game in penalties.  The only thing that brings them out of the depression is when Club America or Chivas starts winning again.

2. Passive Fan - "Go USA...so who will Lebron sign with?"

This is the type of fan that watches it because he watches all sports and wants to stay relevant around the water cooler (or in hopes of someday getting called up to the big leagues and being guest announcer on SportsCenter...in your dreams Passive Fan). He only cares about soccer because it's not close enough to the world series to care about baseball, and basketball is over.  The world cup occurs in an otherwise pretty dead time for sports, so this fan is just happy to have some kind of action going on. But the first big story outside of soccer draws this fan's attention away in a moment.  No dedication here.

3. Couldn't Make the Football Team a.k.a. Played a Little in High School - "I used to be able to do that move"

There are lots of this type of fan here in the U.S. Guys (and girls) who played in High School.  They tend to know a lot about soccer - at least as far as the rules go.  They just usually can't make the magic happen with the feet.  This fan wishes they were Latino so badly so they could go play for their favorite semi-pro team.

4. Hipster Soccer Fan- "I was totally into soccer before it was cool"

This is the most annoying type of soccer fan.  This type of fan is a recent development.  Apparently being a soccer fan is cool now (who knew?) so lots of people are getting into the World Cup.  This is the type of fan who posts a selfie of them sporting a dirty beanie and a new Fred mustache with some obscure World Cup game on in the background (like Bosnia vs. Iran) so people will think they are so cool.  This fan doesn't really know much of anything about soccer except that people like to get together to watch it and drink hipster craft beers.

This is Fred

5. Apathetic - "whatever"

I guess this one really isn't a fan just like the next one isn't, but there are still a lot of people who fall into this category.  This person honestly doesn't care about the World Cup.  Usually this person just isn't really into sports at all.  They don't follow the World Cup all, and don't pay much attention to the endless Facebook posts about it.

6. Haters - "OMG I hate soccer why is everyone talking about it on my Facebook! Can't wait for it to be over!"

This non-fan does it mostly for attention.  It's the same idea as being Goth or into Screamo music.  It's just to get a reaction out of someone like "you really like that music" or "you really like dressing up in all that heavy black leather and makeup every day?"  No, of course they don't really like that music or don't like dressing up like that, but they started down that road to get attention for it, and now it's too late to turn back.  Same applies for hating the World Cup.  "You really hate soccer?"  Internally they admit that they are kinda excited for the final, but would never admit it to anyone but their dozens of pet cats.