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When I was watching that part of the first episode, Christian Pulisic says, “I was like, wow, I’m really awkward, and everyone sees me as this boring guy who doesn’t want to show into his life. I hope people can see that there is some more to me.”
Pulisic, the 26-year-old star of the United States men’s national team and Italy’s AC Milan, is daring to open up. In a new docuseries titled Pulisic — produced by CBS Sports and streamed on Paramount+ — the player has granted what the network describes as “unprecedented access” to his life and “growing celebrity”. “As cameras capture Pulisic’s journey in meeting the demands of global stardom while he prepares for the biggest moment of his career — the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup on home soil,” it adds.
The first episode was released this week, with the second and third to follow in January and more promised later in 2025. It has a strong cast list, including Milan executive Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who insists on calling Pulisic “Captain America”, as well as his former Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, plus insight from team-mates and the closest members of his family.
They all seem surprised, almost perplexed, that Pulisic agreed to take part. Clint Dempsey, a former international team-mate, says: “He doesn’t talk that much, he’s not really outgoing. What kinda content are you gonna get for this thing?” Olivier Giroud, a previous team-mate at AC Milan, says Pulisic is “quiet”, adding there are “so many things he keeps inside himself he doesn’t want to show”. His current USMNT colleague Weston McKennie is “surprised”, saying Pulisic’s journey is “worth documenting, but he doesn’t really let people in so much”.
Ibrahimovic says the only thing he sees a “little bit negative” about Pulisic is that he is “a little bit quiet”. “He is known for being Captain America, but he doesn’t like to be Captain America. He doesn’t maybe see himself like a superhero. He is playing low profile and with his feet on the ground. But you are Captain America, I don’t give a s*** what you say, you are. If that is more pressure on you, I don’t care. It is his own fault — if you weren’t so good, we wouldn’t ask anything from you.”
Pulisic is speaking to The Athletic primarily to promote the series, which traces his life and career from an upbringing in Hershey, Pennsylvania, to becoming the most expensive American soccer player of all time when he joined Chelsea for $73 million (then £57.6m) in 2019. Along the way, he captained his nation at the age of just 20 and became the first American man to play and win a Champions League final, when Chelsea defeated Manchester City in 2021. This season, he is AC Milan’s leading scorer and creator of goals, arguably in the form of his career, albeit now facing an injury setback until early January after tearing a calf muscle during Friday’s Serie A loss at Atalanta.
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