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When UConn women’s basketball isn’t practicing, lifting or otherwise preparing for the upcoming season, a different sport has captured the team’s attention during summer workouts: Soccer. With the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup currently taking place in the United States, the Huskies have been locked in on all the action.
“In the training room — before practice, after practice — we're all watching, staring at the TV,” Olivia Vukosa said on Thursday. “Seeing whose teams are doing well, whose teams are in, whose teams are out, it's just a lot of fun — especially [watching] with the men's team, too.”
The team has continued watching when they leave the Werth Champions Center for the day, too. Sometimes they have full-team watch parties. Other times, everyone puts the current game on in their own apartment.
“It's really, really fun,” Jana El Alfy said. “It's just fun to have that bond.”
“Mostly every room is yelling and tuned in, face glued to the phone,” KK Arnold added. “I'm kind of like a floater. I'm like, ‘Oh is your team doing good?’ They're like, ‘Yeah!’ I'm like, ‘Great, let's go.’”
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It helps that there’s a variety of rooting interests with five international players on UConn’s roster.
Blanca Quiñonez admittedly isn’t a big fan of the sport despite being “surrounded by soccer in my family.” While she played growing up, her twin brother, Jaime, plays professionally in their native Ecuador and her dad still laces up his boots. Still, Quiñonez knew not to miss out.
“I've enjoyed it,” she said. “I don't like [soccer], but I feel like the World Cup is just something different, and I actually like it.”
Unfortunately, Quiñonez was the first player to have their team eliminated as Ecuador fell in the round of 32 to Mexico on Tuesday.
For Jana El Alfy, this tournament has already been a major success for her native Egypt. Not only did the Pharaohs record their first-ever win at the World Cup, they also made it to the knockout round for the first time. Once there, they advanced past Australia on penalty kicks and now face defending champions Argentina in the round of 16.
“It's the best thing ever. People are really excited back home,” she said. “It's really pretty special to get to experience that. You feel proud that your country's making history.”
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Nobody has a better shot at seeing their team win it all than Marine Dursus. Not only was France considered a favorite coming into the tournament, they’ve looked the part so far. They’ve won all five games so far while outscoring opponents 14-2.
“We are good now. I hope we’re gonna win. I think we can win,” Dursus said. “I hope we’re not gonna lose in the final (like they did in 2022).”
It’s been a good week for the freshman guard, who finally arrived on campus and joined the rest of the team for summer workouts. Not only has that allowed her to begin her UConn career, it’s also improved her World Cup viewing experience.
“Here I can watch because it's the good time. In France, it’s six hours (behind East Coast Time), it's harder to watch,” Dursus said.
Gandy Malou-Mamel’s native Ireland didn’t qualify, but she could still root for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where her parents were born.
“Being able to support that side of my heritage and everyone else is supporting their country, I'm so excited,” she said. “It's big for us.”
Malou-Mamel couldn’t watch the DRC’s round of 32 matchup with England uninterrupted, though. She ended up speaking to the media during the second half of the fixture, so she followed along by asking for periodic score updates between questions.
During Malou-Mamel’s interview session, Congo DR held a 1-0 lead. Once she finished, they conceded two goals in the final 15 minutes and lost, 2-1.
Similarly, Jovana Popovic had a pair of favorites even though Serbia failed to crack the 48-team field: Portugal and Brazil. Why?
“Portugal because of Ronaldo, Brazil because of Neymar,” Popovic explained.
It’s not just the international crew who have rooting interests beyond the United States, either. Olivia Vukosa has strong ties to Croatia — her four grandparents were all born there and she represents the country at the international level in basketball — so she was pulling for them.
“Well, Croatia is definitely gonna win tomorrow against Portugal,” Vukosa said with a smile on Wednesday. “I hope, in a perfect world, they're gonna win it all. But I'll take as far as we can get.”
Unfortunately for the freshman, Croatia fell to Portugal in the round of 32.
For UConn, summer workouts are relatively low-stakes. The main goal is to build a foundation for the upcoming season, with team chemistry a central focus. The World Cup has naturally helped bring everyone together.
“I actually don't watch much soccer at all, but now having it be in conversations, rooting for certain teams and just making jokes about it, it's really fun,” Allie Ziebell said. “It's really cool to see. Even Coach (Auriemma) is so involved, so it's like a bonding thing.”
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