Is Lionel Messi the most famous athlete on the planet? It’s a great question that can be answered by looking at the massive reach of the Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, who seems to be on everyone’s lips.

It’s Super Bowl week, and one of the protagonists of Sunday’s big game hasn’t hidden his love for soccer, revealing which players he follows and looks up to because they wear the iconic number “10” jersey.

“I’m a big fan of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Mbapp, who else wears it? Pel. A lot of soccer greats. I mean it’s just a number, but it’s a pretty great number,” he said this week leading up to Super Bowl LX.

His favorite to win the 2026 World Cup

The young quarterback also boldly made a prediction for the World Cup 2026 that will be held across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. He even revealed that he hopes to attend some of the matches.

“It’s incredible that the World Cup is coming to the United States. There will be some games I can attend. I still remember the [2022 World Cup final] where Messi won it against France, it was a great game, what a great sport.”

If his prediction comes true, we would witness a team winning back-to-back titles for the first time since Brazil achieved consecutive World Cups with Pel in 1958 and 1962.

“Messi is playing for Argentina, so I think Argentina can win the World Cup. I would obviously like the United States to win it, I have to support the United States.”