World Cup teams playing in Philly are getting match balls signed by Harper, Embiid, and the rest of the city’s heavy hitters

The World Cup is coming to Philadelphia, and FIFA has apparently figured out the quickest way into this city’s chest cavity: hand the thing over to the sports guys.

Through a program called “Philly Match Ball,” soccer’s governing body lined up seven of the city’s biggest names to sign World Cup balls for the nine nations playing group-stage games here. The signees: Bryce Harper and Trea Turner from the Phillies, Zack Baun and DeVonta Smith from the Eagles, Dan Vladař and Sean Couturier from the Flyers, and Joel Embiid from the Sixers.

Every nation that draws Philly for a group game gets one.

The World Cup balls are headed to nine nations

Brazil. France. Croatia. Ghana. Ivory Coast. Ecuador. Haiti. Curaçao. Iraq.

All nine play their group-stage games at the Linc, which FIFA has renamed Philadelphia Stadium for the duration of the tournament, because sponsors get nervous around the word “Lincoln Financial,” I assume. Weird, but whatever. FIFA and the World Cup are strange organizations who made up a peace prize to give to The President, so I guess renaming The Linc isn’t the weirdest thing they’ve done. The first match in the city is Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador on June 14, 7 p.m. on FS1.

>> Shop Philly Sports Gear Here

So somewhere right now there’s a Croatian equipment manager about to be handed a soccer ball signed by a hockey goalie named Dan Vladař. The cultural exchange is already working.

Harper and Embiid are the actual soccer guys

Of the seven, two of them actually know the sport.

Harper’s wife, Kayla, played college soccer at BYU and Ohio State, so the household has credentials. And Harper himself has a track record. When the Phillies played in London a couple of seasons back, he homered in a 7-2 win over the Mets at London Stadium, then slid across the grass on his knees toward the dugout like he’d scored in stoppage time, yelling “I love soccer, I love soccer.”

Back in 2024, he met Union prodigy Cavan Sullivan, 14 at the time, before throwing out a first pitch ahead of a Phillies-Yankees game, told him “your foot skills are incredible,” and added “don’t forget about all of us when you go to Manchester City.”

Embiid might have him beat.

He grew up playing soccer in Cameroon and didn’t pick up a basketball until he was 16. He told the Men in Blazers podcast in 2024 that soccer is the reason his footwork translated so fast on the court, the same late-start path he credits Hakeem Olajuwon with taking.

He’s a Real Madrid and Arsenal guy. He said he was excited for the World Cup, planned to be “all over the place” going to games, and was hoping Cameroon would qualify.

They didn’t.