TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The 2026 FIFA World Cup has come to a close across the United States, Mexico and Canada. While Arizona did not host any games, at least one Tucson soccer shop saw a significant boost in business as fans stocked up on gear to support their teams.
Diego Morales owns The Shop, which sells soccer cleats, balls and jerseys.
"It's been busy," Morales said.
Morales said sales on national team jerseys skyrocketed during the tournament. He sold about 50 jerseys each for his top three sellers — Mexico, the United States and his own team, Argentina.
"All of the jerseys we booked out ended up selling," Morales said.
"That was a big change from previous World Cup's," Morales said.
The World Cup experience went far beyond sales in Tucson for Morales. He made the trip to Dallas for the tournament, joining thousands of fellow Argentinians at the FIFA Fan Fest.
He said having the World Cup in the U.S. is doing more than just growing the game domestically.
"This has probably been three times as much in jersey sales compared to previous years," Morales said.
With the World Cup now over, Morales is looking ahead to the start of the European football leagues in August. New season jerseys stock his shelves every year, and he expects another wave of customers.
"So we do get a little bit of back to school shopping where kids are buying those jersey's as they go back to school," Morales said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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