A German Soccer Fan Just Discovered Buc-ee’s, and His Reaction Is Everything
LAFAYETTE, La. — The 2026 FIFA World Cup was supposed to introduce the world to American soccer. Instead, it may be introducing the world to Buc-ee’s.
As tens of thousands of international fans pour into the United States ahead of the tournament — which officially kicks off Thursday — one of the biggest cultural moments so far has nothing to do with anything that happens on a pitch. It involves a German fan standing inside a Buc-ee’s somewhere in Tennessee, staring at the snack aisle and losing his mind a little.
A German Fan Goes Viral in the American South
X/Twitter user @FreddyLA7, a German soccer fan traveling to follow his national team, has been one of the most-watched accounts of the World Cup’s opening week. He landed in Atlanta on Friday and immediately started posting his road trip through the South in real time, working his way through the Martin Luther King National Historical Park, Stone Mountain, Waffle House, Walmart, and Chattanooga.
His stop at a Buc-ee’s somewhere in Tennessee produced the post that put him on everyone’s radar. Standing in front of what appeared to be an aisle that went on indefinitely, Freddy wrote: “Lmao how am I supposed to choose from all of this? This is overwhelming me.”
Waffle House responded to his visit with a thank-you. Wendy’s told him to turn around and get a Frosty. And thousands of American sports fans piled into his replies, with one commenter summing up the general feeling: “My favorite thing about the World Cup so far is the German guy documenting his time in the southeast. Absolutely electric content.”
Germany is stationed at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem for the tournament. Freddy’s last posts had him in Tennessee, working his way north toward the team’s base — but not before putting some serious miles on a car through SEC country first.
Fort Worth Is Putting Fans on a Shuttle to Buc-ee’s
Freddy stumbled onto Buc-ee’s on his own, but at least one American city has decided to make it part of the official welcome.
Trinity Metro, Fort Worth’s regional transit authority, launched a “Cowtown Visitor Shuttle” to move international fans around to Southern attractions on non-match days. The service runs June 15 through July 12 and departs Fort Worth Central Station every 30 minutes starting at 10 a.m. One of the two main destinations: Buc-ee’s near Texas Motor Speedway.
The other is the Tanger Outlets.
All-day passes start at $10 and include connections to Trinity Metro bus routes, TEXRail, and the Trinity Railway Express network. The shuttle also covers Six Flags, Texas Live!, Globe Life Field, the Fort Worth Zoo, and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
Visit Fort Worth President & CEO Mitch Whitten described the thinking behind the program when it was announced: “Fans can experience authentic Texas culture, hospitality, and attractions while using Trinity Metro to move throughout the area.”
What Makes Buc-ee’s the Perfect Introduction to the South
People who grew up in the South know what Buc-ee’s is. It’s a stretch of interstate highway that turns into something else entirely — an enormous, spotlessly clean facility with bathrooms that regulars will detour 20 miles to use, aisles of Beaver Nuggets and smoked brisket, enough branded merchandise to fill a closet, and a general sense that someone thought about what a rest stop could be and just kept going.
For someone visiting from Europe, it’s a lot to process. Freddy’s reaction to the snack aisle alone — the genuine bewilderment, the inability to decide — is something that resonates with just about anyone who walked into one of these stores for the first time.
As one commentator put it, Buc-ee’s “is legitimately something that Texans like, that is part of Southern culture, and that you kinda can’t see anywhere else.” Fort Worth built that into its World Cup visitor plan for a reason.
The 2026 World Cup spans 16 host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with American matches in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and other major markets. Hundreds of thousands of international visitors are expected, and cities across the country have been putting together guides and programs to show those fans something worth remembering between games.
A $10 bus ride to Buc-ee’s might be the most straightforwardly Southern answer any of them has come up with.
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