More Than a Game
Every four years, the World Cup gives us a vivid reminder that culture is everywhere. It is in the languages spoken in the stands, the flags draped over shoulders, the chants passed from one generation to the next, the foods shared before kickoff, and the way families and communities gather around a match.
For some fans, soccer is entertainment. For others, it is history, identity, pride, grief, memory, and belonging all wrapped into 90 minutes.
That is part of what makes the World Cup such a useful lens for thinking about cultural competence. It reminds us that culture is not a single characteristic or a checklist of facts. Culture can include nationality, language, race, ethnicity, faith, geography, family roles, communication styles, values, traditions, and lived experiences.
For professionals in healthcare, behavioral health, social work, education, and related fields, this matters. The people we serve do not come to us as isolated individuals separated from their communities and histories. They bring stories, expectations, strengths, and concerns that may not be visible at first glance.
The Surprising Lesson Hidden in Soccer Rivalries
One of the most fascinating aspects of the World Cup is what happens to rivalries. Throughout the year, players may compete fiercely against one another. Fans may passionately support clubs that have spent decades — or even generations — as rivals. In some cases, those rivalries are tied to regional identities, political history, religion, social class, or long-standing cultural traditions.
Yet when the World Cup begins, something changes. Players who spend most of the year competing against one another suddenly become teammates. Fans who would never cheer for a rival club may find themselves supporting those same players because they are now representing the national team.
The rivalry does not disappear. It simply becomes less important than a larger shared identity. That shift offers an important lesson in cultural competence.
People Carry More Than One Identity
A core principle of cultural competence is recognizing that people are rarely defined by a single identity. A person may simultaneously identify with a profession, a family role, a faith tradition, an ethnic group, a generation, a language community, a region, or a national identity. Depending on the situation, different aspects of that identity may become more important.
The World Cup makes this easy to see. A player can be a member of a club, a city, a region, and a nation all at the same time. None of those identities are false. They simply become more or less central depending on the context. The same is true for the people professionals serve every day.
Two individuals who appear to share the same cultural background may have very different values, priorities, and experiences. Conversely, people from very different backgrounds may discover meaningful common ground through caregiving, military service, parenthood, faith, profession, or other shared life experiences.
Cultural competence requires us to resist assumptions and remain curious about which identities matter most to a person at a particular moment.
Looking Beyond Representation
The World Cup also highlights another important concept: Representation matters, but it is only the beginning. Seeing people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds on the field is valuable. But simply bringing diverse individuals together does not automatically create understanding or success.
A national team does not become great merely by putting talented players in the same jersey. Success requires communication, trust, adaptation, and a willingness to understand different strengths, perspectives, and styles of play. The same principle applies in professional settings.
Representation can help people feel seen, but meaningful cultural responsiveness goes further. It asks whether programs, services, educational materials, and interventions genuinely reflect the needs and experiences of the people they are intended to serve.
A resource may be accurate and well-designed but still miss the mark if it overlooks important cultural factors. Language preferences, communication styles, family structures, health beliefs, community values, and barriers to access can all influence whether a service feels relevant and trustworthy.
Listening Before Assuming
One reason cultural competence is an ongoing process rather than a destination is that culture is constantly evolving. Consider the World Cup again. Imagine trying to describe the culture of soccer fans with a single statement. It would be impossible. Fans from different countries, regions, generations, and backgrounds may all love the same sport while experiencing it in completely different ways.
The lesson for professionals is clear: We cannot assume we fully understand a person based on a category, label, or demographic characteristic. Instead, cultural competence encourages us to listen. It means asking questions rather than making assumptions. It means learning from communities rather than speaking for them. It means recognizing that expertise and lived experience both have value. Most importantly, it means approaching others with humility and openness.
Finding Common Ground Without Erasing Differences
Perhaps the most powerful lesson of the World Cup is that shared humanity and cultural differences can exist at the same time. Millions of people around the world watch the same matches, celebrate the same goals, and experience the same emotional highs and lows. Yet they do so through their own cultural lenses, traditions, and histories.
The goal of cultural competence is not to erase those differences or pretend they do not matter. It is to understand them well enough to build meaningful connections across them. Just as rival players can come together to pursue a common goal on the world stage, professionals can learn to recognize both the uniqueness of individual experiences and the common ground that connects us all.
The World Cup may be a sporting event, but its lesson extends far beyond the field: People are complex, identities are layered, and meaningful connection begins when we take the time to understand the whole person.