{"id":224894,"date":"2026-06-22T12:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/224894\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:04:08","slug":"fifa-has-arrived-in-philly-talent-from-around-the-world-is-already-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/224894\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA Has Arrived In Philly. Talent From Around the World\u200a\u2014\u200aIs Already\u00a0Here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eagles<\/a>\u2022More PHL<\/a>\u2022News<\/a>\u2022Unique Columns<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With FIFA teams competing in South Philadelphia<\/a> from Gold Coast to Iraq\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200aplacing jerseys on Rocky and taking in the birthplac<\/a>e of America\u2019s Freedom\u200a\u2014\u200athe world\u2019s focus is once again on Philadelphia. It\u2019s a familiar position for a metropolis<\/a> that by 1776 was already<\/a> a global leader in both politics and commerce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Aug 9, 2018; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata (68) runs off the field after a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Three decades ago\u200a\u2014\u200athe Philadelphia Eagles surprised the world by hiring a Quarterbacks Coach<\/a> from Green Bay. What Andy Reid brought to Philly wasn\u2019t just a solid plan<\/a> to re-build the Eagles. It was the awareness to look for talent not only at every level. He looked<\/a> for it all over the globe.<\/p>\n

Two years before while as Quarterbacks Coach in Green Bay\u200a\u2014\u200aReid got into a good conversation with a maintenance employee at Lambeau<\/a> Field. Over and over with every interaction\u200a\u2014\u200athe employee told Reid that he had incredible idea for a play. Finally\u200a\u2014\u200aAndy Reid caved and handed him an index card and let him draw out the play. Before the season<\/a> was over\u200a\u2014\u200athe Packers offense ran the play\u200a\u2014\u200ascoring on the play.<\/p>\n

Reid\u2019s sense of looking for ideas from everywhere\u200a\u2014\u200astill follows the Eagles<\/a> to this day. It follows Philadelphia as well.<\/p>\n

Last week\u200a\u2014\u200aVillanova signed seven foot three center Sergio<\/a> Luigi from the Lombardy Region of Italy. Luigi\u200a\u2014\u200awho initially prepared for NBA Draft and combine but later withdrew<\/a>. Instead\u200a\u2014\u200athe 19 year has filed for 2026\u20132027 NCAA Draft Eligibility<\/a> and is now a Wildcat.<\/p>\n

Back in South Philadelphia\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles continue to use the approach that Reid set in place at the turn of the century to this day. Through the IPP International Pathways Program\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles drafted<\/a> Uar Bernard<\/a> from Africa in the seventh round of tthe 2026 NFL Draft. They also signed<\/a> Kenya\u2019s Joshua Weru<\/a> this spring.<\/p>\n

But Philly was far from done with the International Pathways Program. With Australian Native Jordan Mailata now<\/a> one of the top offensive lineman in all of football\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200athe Eagles invited Gold<\/a> Coast (Australia<\/a>) 243-pound Carson Patu\u200a\u2014\u200aa Rugby Star to Eagles Rookie Mini Camp this past<\/a> May.<\/p>\n

Long after Andy Reid left the Eagles<\/a> in 2013\u200a\u2014\u200aPhiladelphia continues to welcome international talent\u200a\u2014\u200aand not only in summer<\/a> of 2026. It\u2019s a routine occurrence for a City whose immigrants helped to build William<\/a> Penn\u2019s Philadelphia<\/a> into the tourist destination currently being enjoyed by hundreds of thousands.<\/p>\n

Long after they leave and the festivities are over\u200a\u2014\u200aPhiladelphia sports will look to welcome<\/a> talent at every chance that they get\u200a\u2014\u200aboth from near, far, and around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And from everywhere else in between.<\/p>\n

Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation<\/p>\n

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Tags: 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> Andy Reid<\/a> Italy<\/a> Jordan Mailata<\/a> Uar Bernard<\/a> Villanova Men’s Basketball<\/a> Villanova Wildacats<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized:Eagles<\/a> More PHL<\/a> News<\/a> Unique Columns<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eagles\u2022More PHL\u2022News\u2022Unique Columns With FIFA teams competing in South Philadelphia from Gold Coast to Iraq\u200a\u2014\u200aplacing jerseys on Rocky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68056,31803,38080,6271,18183,69,71,70,81245,97645,97646],"class_list":["post-224894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-andy-reid","tag-italy","tag-jordan-mailata","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-uar-bernard","tag-villanova-mens-basketball","tag-villanova-wildacats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}