For fans of European soccer living on the USA’s west coast, weekend mornings can be a challenge with early kick-offs, even more so if you are working the night before until 10 or 11pm. But rarely does that stop Xander Bogaerts from tuning into the beautiful game.
The San Diego Padres shortstop and two-time World Series champion is arguably one of the most fanatic soccer lovers in Major League Baseball (MLB). The 33-year-old Aruba native proudly represents the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, and no doubt will be cheering on the Dutch at the FIFA World Cup 2026™, but his admiration for players and teams extends far and wide.
Taking a break from MLB’s busy 162-game schedule, Bogaerts talked with FIFA about his affinity for the sport, his World Cup winner prediction and the humorous story of when he nearly met Lionel Messi.
Xander Bogaerts: I didn’t really play a lot growing up, to be honest. I mean, I played a little bit, like school tournaments and stuff. I used to be a goalkeeper, which I didn’t really like that much, but once I got into my teens, I started liking it more. I have a group of buddies – and we’re still buddies today – they played, so that’s how my brother and I started playing a lot.
I used to but it gets a little dangerous with injuries. We used to play quite often on weekends and stuff, maybe two games a week. But then some of the guys would make some fouls on me… I mean, I get it, but it’s a tricky situation, you know? After a couple of fouls that I got, I just said maybe it’s not the smartest idea to be playing.
It’s before day games. Whenever we play at 1pm, sometimes you get up early and your body’s a little sore, so instead of taking ground balls or hitting or whatever, I just go outside, kick, move around, take my mind off baseball a little bit. It’s a lot to do with getting my body warm and it’s very fun, too. It’s something different for me that I like.
Ronaldinho, [Lionel] Messi, the Galacticos from the Real Madrid teams, Thierry Henry, [Claude] Makelele… Once I started watching football a lot more, I started liking Bayern Munich, Arjen Robben, who’s from the Netherlands. I remember it was Arjen Robben and [Franck] Ribery, those were like the two guys, but Robben being from the Netherlands drew me a little bit more toward Bayern Munich.
Yes! Like [Michael] Olise is doing now, you know?
I’d have to go with Netherlands because of the connection I have. But I also rooted for Germany. [Michael] Ballack, Toni Kroos, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm… Maybe because Robben played with Bayern in the German league, I started to like Germany. Playing video games back then as a kid, I always picked Germany.
Yes. I remember they were up in the points with Jamaica and then had to get a draw or win in Jamaica and got a 0-0 draw. Jamaica hit so many balls against the post. That game was so crazy. Curaçao and Aruba are kind of like brother islands, so I followed that run.
France has a dream team, right? And Messi, he is probably my favorite player. Argentina had that nice story from last time. And the Netherlands, man, every year they have a solid team, but Xavi Simons got hurt. That’s a bummer, but they’re good. They might not be the favourites for sure, but they’re a top team… Spain have all these young guys, like Lamine Yamal and Pedri. There’s Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s probably tough because I don’t even know if they’ll start him. I don’t know if that’s what they’re going to do. They’ve got [Rafael] Leao on one side. Bernardo Silva is really good. I know a lot of people are talking about Brazil, but it’s not the same like they used to be. It’s not like the teams with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu, Kaka and Adriano.
I’ll pick Spain. I would have said France, but they just seem like they have a lot going on, like with [Kylian] Mbappe and [Aurelien] Tchouameni at Madrid. It could be resolved by then, but I’ll still go with Spain.
I don’t know. Someone told me that in Kansas City we would have an off day and some team would be playing, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Honestly, I highly doubt it with the way the schedule is.
I watch the games. I wake up early to watch the Premier League games that are on the weekends. Sometimes I’m up at like, 7am, just to try to watch a game. It sucks waking up that early after a night game [laughs].
[Adrian] Morejon and I talk a lot about soccer. Manny [Machado] obviously has a soccer team [San Diego FC]. One of our trainers in the gym, his team is Tottenham. So we have some guys, but Morejon is probably the guy that talks the most about it.
I got to meet Daniel Sturridge when he was at Liverpool. Denzel Dumfries, he’s from Aruba, [Hirving] Lozano from Mexico… But I’ll tell you this funny story. Me and Eduardo Rodriguez, he’s a lefty pitcher with the [Arizona] Diamondbacks now. We were with the [Boston] Red Sox. Argentina played Venezuela at Gillette Stadium [2016 Copa America]. Their game started at 7pm and we we’re playing at 4. So we finished playing and went to the game. Eduardo had some type of connection that we were going to meet Messi afterwards. We got there right at half-time and watched the second half. Messi had an assist and scored.
Eduardo’s connection said to wait for him at the team hotel. So we’re waiting at the hotel, and it’s like 1, 2 in the morning. I said, ‘Eddie, where’s your connection, bro?’ Apparently, they were celebrating or whatever. And so we waited… I felt like I was a fan, you know, like how all the fans wait at the hotel for us! Finally, I told Eddie that I had to go home and couldn’t wait anymore. We had a game the next day at 1pm! And then we left. So that was how close I came to meeting Messi [laughs].
