The Rev. Asa David Coulson (center) with some of his fellow host city ambassadors. Photo: Courtesy of the Diocese of Newark
[Diocese of Newark] When a lifelong soccer fan who also happens to be an Episcopal priest volunteers as a host city ambassador for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it should surprise no one that he sees the role as a ministry.
In each of the tournament’s 16 host cities, ambassadors work in small teams, welcoming visitors, answering questions, handing out stickers and other World Cup-branded items, and creating a hospitable environment for fans from around the world.
The Rev. Asa David Coulson, rector of Grace Church in Nutley, signed up for 10 shifts of seven to eight hours each, serving both in New York City and at New Jersey locations such as the Hoboken NJ Transit Terminal, where he greets fans traveling to matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. He sees it as a blend of his religious calling and his favorite sport.
“Talking with my peers who are on my team, almost all of us are doing it because we think it’s very important right now for people in the United States, as citizens, to be hospitable, to kind of counterbalance some of the inhospitality that’s happening,” Coulson said.
“Everyone who I’ve talked to about that has said that same sort of thing, that, ‘I just wanted to make sure that people knew they were welcome here,’ because we all had a fear that maybe people wouldn’t feel welcomed.”
Coulson says he has been a soccer fan “forever.”
“I played through high school, and then I wasn’t good enough in college,” he said. “I’m a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Union, to the chagrin of the Red Bulls fans in the congregation, I’m sure. I’m also an official supporter of the U.S. national teams, both men’s and women’s, and I have a British Premier League team that I like too.
“I also like LEGO quite a bit,” he continued, “and they made sets for the World Cup, and I have some of those that I’m putting together when I’m watching matches.
“So, yeah, you could say I’m a little bit of a soccer fan.”
Coulson first got the idea to volunteer at the World Cup while watching the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
“I noticed they had volunteers, right? And so because I knew the World Cup was coming, and I like soccer, I googled how to do that, and I found the host committee and applied, so that’s how I started the process.”
The process of being selected as a host city ambassador was long and thorough, including in-person interviews, multiple training sessions both in-person and online, and a background check. Of roughly a million applicants across all host cities, about 65,000 were selected.
“There was a lot of pre-work for almost six months prior to the tournament starting,” Coulson said. “You had to be willing to do it and dedicated to completing your online modules and going into the city.”
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