https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hundreds-of-veterans-snag-world-cup-tickets
By Eleanor Watson
June 25, 2026 / 4:32 PM EDT / CBS News
Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo made history on Tuesday, not just as the first person to score in six World Cup tournaments, but also as the centerpiece of an unforgettable experience for Mark Garcia, a Portugal fan and one of hundreds of veterans receiving free tickets to World Cup matches.
“The game yesterday was amazing, pretty much, more than anybody can describe into words how amazing it was and how important it was to me,” Garcia told CBS News on Wednesday.
Garcia and his wife attended the match between Portugal and Uzbekistan after entering a lottery on Vet Tix, a nonprofit that provides free tickets to sports, concerts and other events for current military service members, veterans and the immediate family of those killed in action.
For this summer’s World Cup, Bank of America contributed $2 million and Vet Tix an additional $250,000 for almost 5,000 tickets for current military service members, veterans and first responders to attend games in the 11 U.S. host cities. Some 250 tickets are being set aside for each U.S. Men’s soccer game as a way to recognize America’s 250th anniversary.
So far, about 80% of tickets have gone to current military service members and veterans, and 20% have gone to first responders, a Vet Tix spokesperson told CBS News.
While Garcia and his wife attended a match in Houston, another Army veteran, Peter Farley, received tickets through Vet Tix to last week’s Iraq-Norway match in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and invited an interpreter he met during a deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, in 2008 and 2009. Farley did not want to disclose the name of the interpreter.
Even more full-circle because Farley said that while he was in Iraq, he had convinced the interpreter, who now lives in Texas, to root for the New England Patriots.
“He barely knew anything about American football then but now he’s a diehard,” Farley said in an email. “My wife actually sent him a Tom Brady jersey while we were over there which he still has. Crazy that he ends up at Gillette Stadium not to watch the Pats, but Iraq!”
Iraq lost to Norway 4-1, but Farley wrote that “it ended up being one of the best sporting events I’ve ever been to. Maybe the best!”
Garcia, the Portugal fan, said he spent most of the game he attended with tears in his eyes.
“For it to be at that game, and Portugal winning five-nothing, and Ronaldo’s scoring twice, I’m almost crying pretty much the entire game,” Garcia said.
His parents are from Faial Azores, one of the islands off of Portugal, and they raised him as an intense Portugal soccer fan. He had never been to a match in person until Tuesday.
As a Vet Tix member for almost 13 years, Garcia has attended several other events, such as Houston Texans NFL games and concerts with artists including Enrique Iglesias and Shania Twain. He often goes with his wife, but brings his son and daughter when he is able to get four tickets. He praised the organization for offering tickets to veterans, like him, who probably couldn’t afford such experiences otherwise.
Garcia served in the Army from 1991 to 1997 and deployed to Bosnia. He says he witnessed harrowing scenes there, such as children stepping on landmines, which led him to cut his Army career short. He still finds those memories hard to talk about.
“[The Vet Tix experiences] gave me the opportunity to actually go somewhere with my family and to actually be around big crowds and, and not have, you know, the worry of being around a lot of people,” Garcia said.
Often, he finds that he is sitting near other veterans when he goes to events through Vet Tix, which gives him an additional sense of comfort.
“A lot of times when they play the national anthem, you know, I can kind of look around and see who the veterans are. And it’s pretty cool to kind of be with them and spend that time with them,” Garcia said.
