Zoe Wahl became a fan of FC Barcelona after playing “2022 FIFA World Cup” and discovering some of her favorite players were members of the Spanish club.

Although the teenager who lives in Canton attended a friendly between English teams Chelsea and Brighton last year, the experience of seeing her favorite team in her home city was something special.

“Just like seeing everyone else in their Barcelona jerseys cheering for them truly is like an incredible experience,” Wahl said.

A crowd of 51,337 fans came out for an international friendly between European powerhouses FC Barcelona and AC Milan, highlighting the growth of the sport in America. After the teams finished regular time in a 2-2 tie, Milan prevailed in a shootout, 4-3, to win the last game in a preseason tour of the United States.

For many, the game was a rare opportunity to watch the highest level of professional soccer in their city, which likely contributed to the size of the crowd.

Matt Rese is a fan of Manchester United of the English Premier League, but he figured he “might as well” experience his first international friendly. The biggest draw of the match for Rese, who’s originally from Pennsylvania, was AC Milan and U.S. men’s national team midfielder Christian Pulisic, a Hershey native.

“We have watched him since he was like 16, so that’s another reason why I’m here,” he said. “It’s good to have like a focal point for the sport, like LeBron [James] is for basketball.”

Pulisic performed for Rese and the rest of the Pennsylvanians at the game with one goal and one assist, though he was outmatched by Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski, who scored two goals.

Although most of the people in the stands were rooting for Barcelona, fans wearing jerseys from Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Inter Miami and the U.S. men’s national team were sprinkled throughout the crowd.

“You’re getting all kinds of soccer fans here,” Zoe’s dad, Jeff Wahl, said. “It shows how well soccer could do out here; it’s attracting not just Barcelona and Milan fans but obviously all sorts of fans.”

The Wahl family, including mom Erin, agreed that, while soccer fans choose to align with a particular team, they also support the sport as a whole. The game drew fans such as Jimmy Flores, a longtime FC Barcelona fan who took the train from Washington to watch his team for the first time.

Soccer was a part of Flores’ childhood in Honduras, and he’s seen the sport become more popular with the American audience.

“I’m pretty sure it’s been growing, but I noticed it a lot during the 2014 World Cup. I noticed the outdoor parties, the live events,” he said. “Ever since then, I feel like it’s been growing.”

Flores and Zoe Wahl both noted that international stars, including Lionel Messi, deciding to play in the U.S. has been a major boost to the sport’s popularity. The 2026 World Cup, which the United States will host with Canada and Mexico, only adds to the excitement.

Two years ago, local officials hoped to lure matches for the 48-team tournament to M&T Bank Stadium. Representatives of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, visited Baltimore and taken in a Ravens game.

Local officials hoped Baltimore had a strong chance of being selected, delivering the city an economic windfall estimated at $400 million to $700 million. Instead, two coastal competitors, Philadelphia and Boston, were among 11 U.S. cities selected.

”Extremely disappointed that FIFA did not see through the fog and through the dark that Baltimore, Maryland, in combination with Washington, D.C., was a one-two punch that deserved to host a World Cup in 2026,” said Terry Hasseltine, the executive director of the Maryland Sports Commission.

The Baltimore region has shown strong support for the game, registering as one of the top U.S. markets for Premier League games. But pro options are limited to the Baltimore Blast in the Major Arena Soccer League and the Annapolis Blues in the National Premier Soccer League.

That may soon change as D.C. United of Major League Soccer explores building a stadium in the area for its developmental team.

The Maryland Stadium Authority partnered with the club to produce a study on potential sites, identifying Carroll Park, Reedbird Park, Swann Park and UMBC as possible locations.