The American mayor who has an ownership stake in two UK football clubs
While some American politicians talk up their love for football in the spotlight of the World Cup, San Francisco’s Mayor is the real deal.
Daniel Lurie gets up early at weekends to watch live Premier League games and has now attended five World Cups, even lifting the trophy with former Brazil midfielder Gilberto Silva during a promotional tour this year.
Since this year’s tournament started, Lurie has been on a whistle-stop tour of San Francisco’s packed fan zones and bars during live matches, sleeves rolled up and mingling with boozy fans in pubs festooned with flags.
“I’ve been a huge soccer fan my whole life,” Lurie told Reuters.
“A lot of people are excited about the World Cup. I kind of live and die soccer,” he said, stopping the conversation briefly to get an update on Tuesday’s Brazil v Japan game, eventually won 2-1 by Brazil.
“So, for me, this isn’t just for this month. I get into soccer all year round.”
There are six games in the San Francisco Bay Area in this World Cup, most notably on Thursday morning (BST), when the United States play a round-of-32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Lurie’s football links go beyond fandom. He is also an investor in 49ers Enterprises, the commercial arm of the San Francisco 49ers NFL team, which became majority owners of Scottish giants Rangers last year after taking over Leeds United in 2023.
“We are now staying up again,” he said of Leeds. “We’ve got a long way to go to get to that top six, to get into European competition, but I believe we can.”
Democratic moderate Lurie was elected as San Francisco’s Mayor in 2024, and before that was a philanthropist and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.
Lurie spent $10.5m (£7.9m) of his own wealth on his campaign, according to disclosures, with the next biggest contributor his mother, Mimi Haas, a major Levi shareholder, who in 2021 had a net worth of $1.4bn (£1bn), according to Forbes.
The USA is taking on Australia in the second game of their World Cup campaign, and we’re bouncing around the city to catch the game. From The East Cut to China Basin Park Social, these spaces are bringing people together to celebrate the world’s game. Get out there, cheer on Team… pic.twitter.com/17nzxFe62x
Lurie has become a social media sensation in San Francisco, cultivating a man-of-the-people image with videos of him at farmers’ markets, officiating same-sex marriages, munching on Mexican food and handing out ice creams from a van.
His Instagram account has gone into overdrive during the World Cup, with posts of him sitting on the floor at watch parties and bouncing from pub to pub to see Lionel Messi’s double for Argentina against Austria, the US beating Australia, France v Senegal, and Ghana against Panama.
“We’re hitting every spot around the city,” he said. “It’s been electric. Our neighbourhoods have been teeming with fans from around the world.”
Last year, Lurie persuaded US President Donald Trump to call off his planned federal surge of National Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to San Francisco, telling him his city was “on the rise” and ICE agents and troops would derail its recovery.
Lurie hopes the World Cup can provide a lasting legacy.
“We need things to unify us,” he said. “The World Cup here in North America and here in the San Francisco Bay Area is doing just that, bringing people together, uniting people. We need more of that.”