Cavan Sullivan may be only 15 years old, but he is already making history. The midfielder made his professional debut last year with the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer (MLS), becoming the youngest player to feature in the MLS, breaking the record held previously by Freddy Adu in 2003.
Expectations are sky high surrounding the native from the City of Brotherly Love. His contract with MLS includes a clause that calls for a transfer to English Premier League heavyweights Manchester City once he turns 18.
If USA qualify, Sullivan might be part of the team at the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2025™ in November in Qatar, but the ambitious teenager has in his sights something bigger: Making Mauricio Pochettino’s final roster for the FIFA World Cup 26™ on home soil.
With his first full season with the Philadelphia Union looming, Sullivan sat down with FIFA to talk about World Cup 26 and his eagerness to see his future club Manchester City compete in this year’s FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ in the USA.
The World Cup is coming to your backyard. What does it mean for soccer in the USA to host the World Cup and for someone local to Philadelphia to see that for the first time?
Cavan Sullivan: For my generation, it’s definitely pretty special to have it here in our country, even cooler [for it] to be in my backyard. Hopefully, I’ll be participating in it. I know I’ll still be at a young [age of] 16. However, anything is possible. And, yeah, I’m ready to work for that.
What would it mean to you to be part of, potentially, a World Cup squad at home?
I mean, especially if we get a game in Philadelphia, that would be awesome. But, just playing for my country at a senior level would be truly surreal.
What significance does the World Cup hold for you? What are your memories from watching [it]?
It’s every four years, so it’s certainly special when it comes on. My favourite memory is probably watching [Lionel] Messi win it in 2022. Just because I’ve watched him win, I’ve watched him lose. I watched some of his losses in Copa America. I know he really wanted that one. It was the perfect ending to his… What we thought would be the end of his story. But he might play in 2026, you never know. Another one is probably the USA in their 2014 World Cup run; they got pretty far…the one where they lost to Belgium.
Messi has been part of MLS for 18 months now. In your opinion, what’s the impact that he’s had on the league?
It’s pretty apparent that stadiums have sold out, tickets have been sold, more television viewers, just his impact on world football has been astronomical. Obviously, non-soccer fans are buying tickets to watch him play and then they turn into soccer fans. That’s what I like to see here in the country. These past few years, American soccer has jumped a lot of levels, but there are still people who aren’t aware of how fun and how the beautiful game can be so [enjoyable]. It’s good to see people switch over to watching soccer.
Your future club, Manchester City, is going to be playing here in the USA in the Club World Cup. How excited are you for that?
Hopefully I’ll get out to a few games for the Club World Cup. Like I said, it’s just another step to American soccer being a top league and in a top country for the game. So it definitely is special that we have these two opportunities in the near future.
Any thoughts on their opponents, considering that their first match is going to be in Philly against Wydad, and then they’ll have Al Ain and Juventus to follow?
Their opening game in Philadelphia, I better be there, if all goes well and I’m not too busy. But it’ll definitely be an exciting run. [There are] a lot of good teams in the competition, obviously. [Inter] Miami will be there, Seattle Sounders from the MLS, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them. And, hopefully, in the one after that, the Philadelphia Union qualifies.
I saw you recently visited Man City. Did they ask you about MLS?
Of course, they asked about the MLS. I mean, Apple TV – they have it there [in England], they have access, so they’re aware of how soccer is developing here. They obviously have [asked]. People ask about the Union and what’s the level like in MLS. I can only say good things about the league and the Philadelphia Union.
