Old St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral filled before Sunday’s midday events even began, as a FIFA Legends Match and Italian-language Mass turned the church into a rare meeting place for faith, soccer and New York’s Italian-American community. Among the retired stars drawing the biggest cheers was Roberto Baggio.
The crowd came early because there was no guarantee of getting in. Sean Cabrera, who came from Brooklyn, was one of the first people in line at Old St. Pat’s, where fans started queueing at 9 a.m. and the line stretched down Mott Street. Cabrera called it “an ultra combination of dreams,” saying the appeal was that it brought soccer and the Catholic faith together and gave people a chance to meet the players and go to church.
The June 7 event featured an Italian-language Mass, a Q&A and a FIFA Legends Match with eight retired Italian soccer stars. After the Mass, the players answered questions from children in Italian, giving the day a distinctly local feel even as it carried the glow of an international showcase. Roberto Baggio, Marco Materazzi and Giuseppe Rossi were among the fan favorites in attendance.
The gathering also underlined how central Old St. Pat’s still is to Italian life in New York. The Basilica has served as a center for the city’s Italian-American community since the late 1800s, and it still offers an Italian-language Mass every Sunday alongside English and Spanish services. This celebration was organized by FIFA with the Grow Together Foundation, a New York nonprofit that offers Italian language classes and sports camps for youth in the city.
But the size of the crowd also showed how much demand there was for the event. Many fans waited outside on Mott Street and never made it into the church because it was packed to the brim, a reminder that this was not a routine parish service but a one-day appearance by names most people had only seen on television. Gianni Infantino attended the Mass and told the congregation the players “made our hearts beat” and “make us proud of being Italian,” while Andrew Guiliani, there as executive director of the White House task force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, said he could not think of a better place for it than Old St. Pat’s.
The moment carried an added edge because Italy will not play in the 2026 FIFA World Cup after being eliminated in a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualification playoff. For one Sunday in lower Manhattan, though, the country’s soccer identity still filled the church. The next thing to watch is whether this kind of faith-and-football gathering becomes a one-off celebration or a template for how New York’s Italian community marks the road to 2026.
