Sharing Christ at the World Cup: Atlanta Catholics turn global sporting event into mission field

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is currently taking place in cities across North America, and soccer fans from around the globe have traveled to host cities to support their teams as they play in the world’s most important soccer tournament. With so many foreigners visiting, a Catholic radio show in one city is taking the opportunity to evangelize and share the Gospel.

The Quest Atlanta Catholic Radio has set up a Catholic hospitality booth at the ATL Experience — Atlanta’s official local merchant marketplace for the 2026 World Cup, which features over 90 local businesses ranging from food and drink to clothing and art. The ATL Experience is taking place in three different locations in the Atlanta area, with The Quest booth located between the State Farm Arena and the old CNN Center.

Allison Dalloul, a co-host on The Quest’s morning show and outreach coordinator, told EWTN News that when she heard that the World Cup was coming to Atlanta, she thought, “What a great opportunity for us to just have our booth out there and sharing our smiles and our personal presence out there.”

Visitors to the booth will find information about local churches, Mass schedules, information about the Catholic faith, brochures, prayer cards, religious images, rosaries, and a wheel people can spin to win prizes.

Dalloul shared that the prayer cards were made by The Quest team to feature St. Luigi Scrosoppi, the patron saint of soccer.

The booth is open the day before matches take place in Atlanta and on game day and is run by volunteers from the Archdiocese of Atlanta, parishioners from the many parishes, and those who work at The Quest Atlanta. Clergy from the archdiocese as well as the St. Paul Street Evangelization team are also present at the booth.

“It has just been such a great way to evangelize, even the Catholics here, even the people that are volunteering, because not many people get the opportunity to be a part of something like this,” Dalloul said.

She added that a plethora of different kinds of people with different backgrounds have come up to the booth. For example, a woman who recently lost her husband visited the booth and a member of the St. Paul Street Evangelization team prayed with her. Many couples have also come up to the booth to ask the priests in attendance for a blessing on their marriage.

“People are coming up hungry [for the faith], people are coming up not knowing anything about the Church, people are coming up going, ‘Oh, Iʼm Catholic. This is so neat that this is here,’” Dalloul said.

A moment that impacted Dalloul personally took place on the first day at the booth between her and the daughter of one of the other vendors at the ATL Experience. She explained that she was roughly 12 years old and went over to see what The Quest’s booth was all about. Dalloul shared who they were and asked her if she had any prayer intentions.

“I donʼt think she fully understood what that was. So I said, ‘Is there anything going on in your life that you would like God to assist you with?’ And she was like, ‘Oh!’ And was diligently writing things down on those cards,” Dalloul recalled.

“That alone, that first encounter, the innocence of a child — Iʼm a cradle Catholic. I was born into this. So many people are not born into this. So, just the excitement she had writing those prayer intentions down with all her might, I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’”

She added: “So, weʼre not evangelizing only to the folks attending the World Cup but also the vendors who are actually working in the different areas.”

Speaking to the many moments of faith seen on the field so far, Dalloul emphasized that it has been “a beautiful witness to all that are watching.”

“It makes my heart so happy when I see men out there that are faith-filled, living their faith out, not ashamed, not embarrassed to make the sign of the cross,” she said. “In our society, I feel sometimes many people are afraid to say grace before a meal in a restaurant and make the sign of the cross because somebody might look at me weird or strange. We have got to be unapologetically Catholic. We should never be afraid to share our faith, wherever we are.”

As for her hopes for all those visiting The Quest’s hospitality booth, Dalloul said she hoped they experience “the love of Christ.”

She also highlighted the importance of The Quest’s mere presence at the event.

“I feel that just our presence of being there is the key, with smiles on our face, just talking [to people] … our presence of Christ there,” Dalloul said. “I just want them to encounter Christ when they meet us, because we have no idea what is going on in the lives of others … We donʼt know what theyʼve gone through. We donʼt know what theyʼre going through. And you never know, the Lord might be prompting them to do something or go to church or go to Mass.”

“Thereʼs so much that we can be doing and we just have to not be afraid and let Christ work through us and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance to not be afraid.”

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/sharing-christ-at-the-world-cup-atlanta-catholics-turn-global-sporting-event-into-mission-field