With the World Cup in full swing in Russia, soccer fever is at an all-time high all around the world right now, even back here in the United States. Although the U.S did not qualify for this year’s games, all of North America was in celebration as FIFA announced that U.S, Canada, and Mexico will be hosting the 2026 World Cup.
In order to celebrate the announcement as well as the opening of their new branch, Wells Fargo has held an event in New York with some U.S Soccer royalty. Claudio Reyna, who is now the director of football operations for New York City FC, made an appearance at the opening for Wells Fargo new branch in Manhattan, located on the Upper East Side at 247 East 86th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues.
Reyna, who is originally from Argentina, immigrated to New Jersey with his family and spent time developing his soccer skills until the age of 21 where he was picked up by Bayer Leverkusen in Germany after his performance in the 1994 World Cup. Reyna spent over 14 years in domestic league soccer, including a run in Manchester City before finishing his career with the New York Red Bulls in 2008. In his career, he’s won the Fútbol de Primera Player of the Year in 2000 and in 2002, became one of 3 U.S soccer players to make it into the FIFA World Cup ‘All-Star’ team.
In many ways, Reyna and his generation of U.S Soccer players were the main factors in the hype and the rise of Soccer in America. That’s why Wells Fargo decided to have a mural to commemorate prominent Upper East Side landmarks.
The new location is Wells Fargo’s 24th Manhattan retail branch, signifies the bank’s increasing investments in New York City. On June 7, Wells Fargo celebrated the grand opening of the Hudson Yards branch and announced its founding partnership of Hudson Yards, Manhattan’s newest neighborhood and the largest private real estate development in U.S. history. The bank purchased 500,000-square-feet of office space, and in 2020 will move the New York City headquarters of Wells Fargo Securities, its investment banking, and capital markets business to that location, and Wells Fargo served as one of several co-lead arrangers for a $1.5 billion senior construction loan. Overall, more than 2,000 Wells Fargo team members will move to Hudson Yards.
