Matt Freese chose Harvard over Manchester United before US World Cup rise

Matt Freese’s route to the U.S. men’s national team ran through Harvard rather than Manchester United, a choice that has become central to the story of his rise. Fortune reported that the 27-year-old goalkeeper passed on an apprenticeship contract with the English club before later becoming Team USA’s starting goalkeeper at the 2026 World Cup.

Fortune reported that Freese, a Pennsylvania native, chose Harvard after weighing an early opportunity with Manchester United, the club associated with players including David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo. At Harvard, he studied economics and computer science while playing for the Crimson.

Freese told ESPN that the college route helped him as a goalkeeper, saying the experience “really allowed me to thrive on the field.” According to Fortune, he also completed academic work on penalty takers’ patterns, research he believes improved how he reads the game.

In the same ESPN interview, Freese linked classroom work to his development on the field, pointing to problem-solving, group work and the social demands of college as part of what shaped him. Fortune reported that he later carried those habits into his professional career with the Philadelphia Union.

A family decision, then a professional turn

Freese’s commitment to training began before college, according to Fortune. As a teenager, his mother often dropped him at school around 5 a.m. so he could practice, lift weights, eat breakfast, shower and still reach class by 7:45.

Freese told Fortune that the early schedule was not driven by a sense that he had earned anything, but by enjoyment and a family expectation of hard work. Fortune reported that his father, a neurosurgeon with undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard, strongly valued education.

Freese told Hudson River Blue that turning down Manchester United was a “family decision.” He said there were difficult talks with his parents and that he felt he needed to respect their wishes because of what they had sacrificed for him.

That path changed after three semesters at Harvard, when Freese left school for a time to sign with the Philadelphia Union, according to Fortune. He later returned to his degree work, taking many classes online and traveling to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he needed to sit for exams.

Freese completed his Harvard degree in 2022, Fortune reported. He told ESPN that studying while playing professionally was difficult but useful because the daily class schedule gave him structure at age 20.

From MLS to the national team

Freese received a call-up to the U.S. men’s national team in 2025, according to Fortune. The publication reported that he has since become one of the country’s leading goalkeepers, started for the Americans and secured endorsement deals with Nike and Procter & Gamble.

Fortune reported that Freese’s father died in 2021 and did not live to see his son’s later rise in professional soccer. The goalkeeper is now part of a U.S. team that Fortune said has opened the 2026 World Cup strongly on home soil.

Fortune placed Freese’s path alongside other unusual routes to the World Cup, including Cape Verde player Roberto “Pico” Lopes, who had worked at a bank in Dublin while playing soccer before a LinkedIn message connected him with Cape Verde’s national team. Fortune also cited U.S. teammate Ricardo Pepi, whose family, according to the book The Long Game, made financial sacrifices while supporting his early soccer career.

FIFA is set to distribute a record $871 million among the 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup, with the champion eligible to receive as much as $50 million, Fortune reported.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.