Baggio Draws Crowds at Old St. Pat’s FIFA Legends Event
Roberto Baggio drew one of the biggest reactions at Old St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral on Sunday, June 7, as baggio and seven other retired Italian stars joined an Italian-language Mass, a Q&A and a FIFA Legends Match in Little Italy. The basilica was packed by people who started queueing at 9 a.m. for a place inside.
Old St. Pat’s and Baggio
The event put faith, Italian heritage and soccer fandom under one roof at a church that has served New York’s Italian-American community since the late 1800s. FIFA organized it with the Grow Together Foundation, which runs Italian language classes and sports camps for youth in New York City.
Fans got more than a photo line. After the Mass, the players answered questions from children in Italian, turning the gathering into a live bridge between generations. Fan favorites in attendance included Marco Materazzi and Giuseppe Rossi as well as Baggio, the name that still pulled the loudest attention.
Infantino at the Mass
Gianni Infantino attended the Mass and used it to frame the day around identity and memory. “They [the players] made our hearts beat, and they continue to make our hearts beat,” he said. “They make us proud of being Italian.”
Alessandra Locatelli, Italy’s minister for disabilities, attended, along with representatives from Italy’s consulate and Andrew Guiliani, the executive director of the White House task force on the FIFA World Cup 2026. Guiliani said, “When you think about what Old St. Pat’s means to New York, I couldn’t think of a better place to actually do this,”
Little Italy Queue at 9 a.m.
The line outside began forming at 9 a.m., and the crowd gave the day a local edge that went beyond a ceremonial stop. Sean Cabrera, waiting outside, called it “Personally, it’s an ultra combination of dreams” and added, “The fact that it combines [soccer] with the Catholic faith…. You get to meet these players [and] you get to go to church.”
William Capparelli said before the Mass, “My favorite soccer team is Italy, obviously,” a simple line that matched the mood inside the basilica. The harder edge to the story sits beyond the celebration: Italy will not be at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after losing a qualification playoff penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which made the appearance of retired national-team stars feel like a reunion with a team that is absent from the tournament.
For the people who filled Old St. Pat’s, the day offered something immediate rather than symbolic: Mass in Italian, a close-up look at legends and a church that still treats Italian language worship as part of its weekly life. Francesco summed up the pull of it from inside the church: “The church is having a revival in America, especially now, and I really hope to see more people go to c”
