GOAL Convo: CLUBELEVEN’s co-founder discusses "Soccer Odyssey," traveling to watch U.S. Open Cup matches and spotlighting American soccer
The future of the U.S. Open Cup has been in doubt for years, with concerns about declining fan interest and limited broadcast exposure. But in the parking lot of a recent Louisville City FC cup match, North America's oldest soccer tournament felt very much alive, according to CLUBELEVEN co-founder Pablo Bayona Sapag.
“It was 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and we're in a parking lot with a bunch of different fans, and they're all just having a drink of bourbon – at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday," Bayona Sapag told GOAL.
Bayona Sapag, along with his team of content creators, Kyros Morales, Tyler Dolph, Justin Amatucci, and his twin brother Gabriel, are all part of a team at CLUBELEVEN who are in the middle of a months-long journey titled the – and they're out to find what makes American soccer special. CLUBELEVEN is a creative soccer publication that produces print and digital content.
Traveling throughout each round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to different cities, communities, and clubs around the U.S., the is taking in small moments and painting them with a large-scale picture.
"Every state, every city, has its own culture, its own little thing," he said. "But then, when we talk about soccer, sometimes we all want to just paint things, you know, in one way, when in reality, it's… soccer here is such a beautiful mosaic, right?"
The group of five purchased a converted bus made for travel and living last November, and spent five months renovating it for what Bayona Sapag describes as a "prelude" to the "watershed moment" of the 2026 World Cup on American soil. The five of them, all content creators in their own way, working in the beautiful game, are part of this unique project where they're taking in the United States' oldest sporting tournament, while highlighting the small moments that make the world's game beautiful, on U.S. soil.
It began with the idea of a commercial.
From there, with the help of a stranger they met for an interview on a project, the concept of tangible, physical love for the game evolved into a magazine. Then? Well, then they bought a bus. And now? Now they're touring the Open Cup, driving around the country, delivering on what they intended to do from the start: sharing what makes American soccer, well, American.
It started in Asheville, North Carolina, and from there, they made their way to Boone, and then High Point to wrap the opening round. They then took the bus to the sunny skies of Florida, where they witnessed FC Naples – a small town with big ambitions – play their way into Round 3 of the competition. Round 3 saw them take things to the Midwest, where they witnessed USL Championship sides Indy Eleven and Louisville CITY FC take the pitch. Round 4, meanwhile, will see them return to Florida, where the Tampa Bay Rowdies will take on MLS side Orlando City.
"The Open Cup is important because it is an opportunity for people in all these different pockets around the country to fall in love with the game for the first time," Bayona Sapag said. "And I think on top of that, it's the oldest sports tournament that we have in America. Knowing that you're out watching an Open Cup game, you can think ‘wow, there were people 110 years ago doing the same thing that I'm doing right now,’ and I think that's very important to be able to know that you're part of this rich history."
Bayona Sapag discussed the journey and what they've learned from communities along the way in the latest GOAL Convo, a recurring Q&A with central figures in the American soccer scene.
CLUBELEVENON ESTABLISHING THE SOCCER ODYSSEY
GOAL: How did the Soccer Odyssey idea itself come about, where did it come from, and how did it come to fruition?
BAYONA SAPAG: There are three parts in terms of how everything came together. The first one was probably one that started last year around the Open Cup. With not every MLS team playing, we thought it was very important to try to cover this historic tournament. So a few of us went out on this little road trip. It was just with a car, no bus at that point. We went to three different cities, we went to two in North Carolina and then one in Tennessee, and we really got to see and experience all these communities… they were all very different, very vibrant. And we saw how much soccer meant to them, and how much the Open Cup meant to them, and that was a really special trip for all of us who were there. And then from there, it was just this whole idea of… even though we just went on this road trip for a week, wouldn't it be great if we were able to do this at a larger scale at some point? Obviously, that wasn't really a possibility, but it was kind of in the back of our minds like ’Yeah, this would be awesome to be able to do.’ So that’s where the idea really started, and then from there, well, we bought a bus.
We were talking one night about a Nike-style commercial that they would love to do. So we just thought… wouldn't it be great if it's like somebody just driving in a little car, and then there's this bus driving alongside them with soccer fans going crazy? That is kind of how the bus got in our heads. And then the final component of it, which was the magazine, I think for us, we've been doing soccer stories for the past seven years, at this point, doing interviews with players, fans, artists, anybody who was involved with soccer here in North America. And funny enough, we had an interview with a jersey collector over in Miami. He had a collection of 300 jerseys from all over. So we did that interview with him, and he kind of started checking out the work that we were doing, and he suggested wouldn't it be great if you guys actually put out a print magazine? That's when we kind of thought, like, yeah, it would be perfect to be able to combine all these three different things together.
AdvertisementCLUBELEVENON THE BUS
GOAL: How did you find the bus, and what was the renovation process like?
BAYONA SAPAG: So in terms of the bus, it was difficult. We went on Facebook marketplace, we went on all these websites to find people who remodelled buses before, so it was just getting a lot of information. Thankfully, there's a loophole. If the bus has already been converted into a mobile home, technically, you can just drive it with your regular license. So then, from there, we realized we should try to find a bus that has already been turned into a home. So we were able to find one that used to belong to a couple that they used to drive around the country. They were based out of Satellite Beach in Florida. We met them, we made the offer on the bus, and they were like ‘yeah, you guys can take it,’ and thankfully, from there, it was time to renovate. It had a shower, they had a bed, it was like their home, right? But from there, we began by scrapping the shower, scrapping the bed, scrapping everything until it was completely clear. We bought the bus in November, and then it wasn't ready until March. So it was a pretty long process in terms of remodeling aspects of things.
GOAL: What went into the interior design?
BAYONA SAPAG: In terms of what we wanted it to look on the inside, we wanted it to be pretty homey. When people step inside, the best way I would describe it is it's like a little soccer saloon. It's very rustic, but we have a lot of, like, different memorabilia from across the years. You know, we have game-worn jerseys from the NY Cosmos, from the 70s, the LA Aztecs, the San Jose Earthquakes, and then just different trinkets, again, from 80s, 90s, as well as early 2000s magazines from across time. So it's just like a lot of different things inside the bus that people can interact with. We also have a map where everybody who steps inside can put a little pin on where they're from.
CLUBELEVENCLUBELEVENON THE MAGAZINE
GOAL: Talk to me about the magazine. It's your physical story, and the embodiment of this journey. What went into the design and what does it mean to you all?
BAYONA SAPAG: Our first print magazine, it kind of covers everything that has to do with soccer in America right now, before the 2026 World Cup, and it paints a complete picture of everything that's happening across the country across all levels.
This whole idea of producing a magazine, we decided we were going to call it the Soccer Odyssey, which sparked a thought: maybe we should go on our own Soccer Odyssey. So, that's how we tied everything – the commercial that we did for the bus, and then going on this road trip around the country to kind of continue the storytelling that we did in the magazine.
CLUBELEVENON THE MEANING OF AMERICAN SOCCER
GOAL: Across this journey throughout the Open Cup, what have you found out from fans about the meaning of the Open Cup?
BAYONA SAPAG: The Open Cup is really the only opportunity where you get to see all these clubs from all over the pyramid go up against each other, and that's the true nature of the sport! Where, you know, the little guy can go play the giant and go beat them. And at least in this road trip, we've seen how much that means to all these different communities. When we were in Boone at Appalachian FC, we were talking to one of the owners, and he told us it can fund the club for the rest of the year.
You see how much these games mean to a community, monetarily, but then also, just as a community event, you see people coming out that maybe have never seen a soccer game before, but they're there just because they know the rest of their town is going to be there watching the game. So I think when it comes to that, the Open Cup is important because it is an opportunity for people in all these different pockets around the country to fall in love with the game for the first time. And I think on top of that, it's the oldest, oldest sports tournament that we have in America…I think it's important for the culture of the game here in America.
GOAL: American soccer is peculiar, with quirks of its own. What has this journey showed you personally about the domestic game?
CLUBELEVEN: American soccer, it's always about the untold stories of the game, the hidden things. So that's why I think it's important to shine a light on these Open Cup games. It's because of all these things that maybe we all wish were happening in our country are actually happening. They're there. It's just being able to give a spotlight to them and showcase it at a national level. I think that's very important. Because, you know, I know for a lot of us fans here in America, we look to Europe, we look to South America, and we see all these great things happening. But we do have that here in America, it's just…now shining a spotlight on them.