With fewer than 10 matches left to play, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is entering its final stretch. As the tournament continues and more national teams are defeated and eliminated, the dream of becoming world champion fades away.
Faced with this reality, a question arises: What message can defeat convey from the perspective of the Catholic faith?
The worldʼs most important national team tournament has already seen the elimination of host countries Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as well as teams with high aspirations like Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Luka Modrić’s Croatia.
Although one might think that a defeat brings only sadness and frustration, Father David Jasso, a priest of the Archdiocese of Monterrey, Mexico, and former sporting director of the Monterrey Soccer Club, said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that failure also offers important lessons.
“We learn more from failure and mistakes than from achievements and successes,” the priest stated, noting that defeat is part of life and personal growth.
He also highlighted that the World Cup has demonstrated the power of sport to bring people together around the same dream. He pointed out that experiences like this remind us that we can still “unite, that we can still be together, and that shared hopes and dreams are also part of life.”
He encouraged fans to experience the remainder of the tournament in a spirit of fraternity. “Even though our national team isnʼt participating, we love soccer, so let’s enjoy it, especially with family and friends,” he said, while also calling for gatherings and fan festivities to take place “with respect and peace.”
Jasso noted that although soccer is a “thrilling, indescribable” sport and winning the World Cup is a great aspiration, “there are more important things for which we are playing,” including “glory, heaven, and salvation.”
He also pointed out the importance of preserving the essence of the game, urging people to “carefully protect the sport from corruption, negative practices, and business aspects that unfortunately affect this beautiful sport.”
A moment to reflect on hope
Father José de Jesús Aguilar, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mexico, told ACI Prensa that even in defeat, “one must always have hope.”
The priest noted that the Gospel invites us to “always seek success, the best, and growth,” but he also pointed out that Scripture teaches, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, that “there is a time to win and a time to lose.”
He explained that this is because “there are many things that do not depend solely on oneself, but also on others,” and furthermore, “people, times, circumstances, opportunities, and many other things” can change.
For this reason, he urged fans to accept the final scores with composure, noting that although all the teams are competing to lift up the trophy in celebration, “in this World Cup, there will be only one winner, while all the others participate and learn even from their losses.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.