This 2026 World Cup has its accidental influencer. A German fan known on X under the handle @FreddyLA7 set out to document, dish by dish, his discovery of American restaurant food during the tournament — and the result goes well beyond football.
His first stop, a Buffalo Wild Wings on the night of the opening match on June 11, racked up more than 2.7 million views. Since then, Freddy has crossed the American South chaining together food stops, gained hundreds of thousands of followers, visited NASA, stayed in a five-star hotel in Houston — and received an invitation to the White House.
He’s not alone in this kind of adventure. A young Norwegian filmed savoring his first In-N-Out burger passed 900,000 views, while Swedish fan Elsa Thora went viral after discovering ranch dressing at an Indianapolis diner — and has been demanding its immediate export to Europe ever since.
Beyond the anecdote, these videos capture something fairly true about major international tournaments: they move tens of thousands of people who, alongside the matches, discover an entire cuisine for the first time — and tell the story their own way, sandwich in hand.