Human Interest

In 1999, the USWNT was on top of the world. Americans fell in love with the 99ers who won the Women’s World Cup on home soil, with Brandi Chastain’s shirtless celebration becoming one of the first soccer moments to transcend into mainstream culture in the U.S. 

Twenty years later, the USWNT was back on top of the world. Megan Rapinoe led the USWNT to a fourth Women’s World Cup, but the love didn’t necessarily follow. Half of the country hated the team for reasons having little to do with soccer.

The reason you won’t see some of the best men's soccer players at the Olympics is sort of peculiar. In order to preserve the status of the World Cup as the greatest international event for men’s soccer, an Olympic soccer age limit was instituted for the men's tournament.

The men's Olympic soccer tournament only features players under 23 years old, with three exceptions for each country. 

After winning his first major international trophy, Lionel Messi posted a picture with a wide smile holding the Copa América trophy and it quickly became the most-liked photo of an athlete on Instagram ever.

While it isn’t shocking to see so many people come to support one of the greatest footballers ever in his first international trophy at the age of 34, it intrigued me in wondering what other athletes can garner this amount of attention and love on social media. 

Here we take a look through the most-liked social media posts made by athletes from all around the world. 

BUENOS AIRES — Hernán Mastrángelo, a 100-year-old grandfather in Argentina, has gone viral after it emerged that for years he had been taking handwritten notes of almost every goal scored by local hero and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Mastrángelo, a chocolate maker by profession, made it his hobby to keep track of each of Messi's goals, an achievement his grandson Julián has announced on social media, catching people's imagination including the striker himself.

At the age of 22, Racheal Nachula was representing Zambia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women’s 400 meters after winning bronze at the African Championships. She did her country proud in Beijing, qualifying for the semifinal round after running a hugely impressive 50.62.

Three Olympics and 13 years later, now age 35, Nachula is back, but in an entirely different discipline — soccer.

Atlético Madrid and Spanish star Marcos Llorente is going to be a married man. Llorente divised a master plan to pull off one of the greatest marriage proposals ever. I’ll be thinking of this Marcos Llorente marriage proposal for some time to come.