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Giants third baseman Matt Chapman follows soccer because he owns \u201ca small, small amount\u201d of an English Premier League squad, Leeds United, which was promoted last season and avoided relegation this year.<\/p>\n
Ross D. Franklin\/AP<\/p>\n
With the World Cup about to get under way, we figured this would be a good time to check in on the\u00a0San Francisco Giants<\/a>\u2019 players and staff to see which teams they support, or if anyone plans to check out the games anywhere. It\u2019s the most popular sport on the planet!<\/p>\n Well \u2026 maybe not so much in a baseball clubhouse, which is about 80% indifferent to the biggest sporting event in the world taking place, in part, in the Giants\u2019 backyard. But with some persistence, we found a few soccer-heads and futbol fanatics.<\/p>\n That might be a stretch, but there is some interest, lots of love for Barcelona\u00a0\u2014 and one very interesting soccer fact to come out of this week\u2019s question, of course from someone who once played for the famously soccer-mad A\u2019s front office, so we\u2019ll start there as we ask:<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Are you a soccer fan, who\u2019s your team and will you follow the World Cup?<\/p>\n Matt Chapman<\/a>, third baseman: I own a little piece of a Premier League team. I mean a small, small amount. The 49ers ownership group invested, and my financial people are friends with them.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Chapman: I invested in Leeds United, so I follow them. They moved up from the lower division (Championship) and won it. They were in the Premier League this year, and then they avoided relegation, so they\u2019re staying in the Premier League. They have a huge fan base, and not this year (the Chapmans are expecting their second child in July) but next year I\u2019m going to try to get there, that would be cool.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I did play soccer growing up, I probably should have played longer, but I played football (American football) in high school instead of soccer.\u00a0 I was a wide receiver and a safety.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be rooting for the United States for sure. I like soccer. I want my daughter to play, for sure.<\/p>\n Jung Hoo Lee<\/a>, outfielder (with Giants translator Justin Han interpreting): I\u2019m definitely interested in the World Cup, and I\u2019m excited to see it. Of course I\u2019m rooting for Team Korea. If you talk about sports in Korea, baseball itself league-wise is No. 1, but if you talk about international matches, nothing can beat soccer over there at home. So I\u2019m really excited to watch them.<\/p>\n I pay attention to the European teams that have Korean players\u00a0\u2014 when I was young, Manchester United had Park Ji-sung and after that, Tottenham had Son Heung-min, Bayern Munich (Kim Min-jae), Paris Saint-German (Lee Kang-in), they\u2019ve all had Korean players. So I have interest in all of those.<\/p>\n Luis Arraez<\/a>, second baseman: I follow Barcelona, because Lionel Messi was there. When Venezuela is playing, I pay attention a little bit\u00a0\u2014 but I don\u2019t have time. When they play, we play.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I was a good soccer player when I was little but my mom didn\u2019t like it. She wanted me to play this (gestures around the clubhouse).<\/p>\n<\/a>
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