There's a story behind the number 87.
The number Marco Pašalić wears on the back of his Orlando City SC jersey was born in the country he is set to represent on the biggest stage, the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
Before he moved to the United States to play for the Lions, Pašalić had just signed for Croatian side HNK Rijeka in 2023. During the team's preseason camp in Slovenia, he sat down for a cup of coffee with fellow newcomer to the team and good friend Franjo Ivanović. As they sat and drank, they talked about which numbers they would choose to wear heading into the season.
Pašalić was three years older than him so Ivanović offered him the number 7 to wear, since that was Marco's preferred number. Rather than jump at the opportunity to wear his usual number, Pašalić thought it was time for a change. He was playing in his home country for the first time, and after wearing the number 7 since he was 12 years old, it felt like the right time to change.
"Franjo and I came to the idea, that I'm going to take 87 because the 80 is nice and the seven was my number," Pašalić said. "So we're gonna mix this. And I'm a winger, so the seven is perfect for this position. Franjo took 89, since he was the striker. We did this together."
What neither of them knew was that there was massive significance to the number 87 for the fans of HNK Rijeka. The club's supporter group, Armada Rijeka, was founded in 1987, making Pašalić an instant fan favorite. It also helped that Marco scored five goals in his first seven games with his new club, including two in UEFA Conference League play.
"I took the number of the fans," he said. "It matched directly, and it was big love from the beginning."
When Pašalić made the move from Rijeka to Orlando in 2025, there was never any debate about keeping it.
"Everybody knows, my friends, my family, or anybody else, if they ask about 87, then you have me in mind," he said. "Because nobody else would wear the 87."
It's a small detail, but it speaks a lot about the type of player and person Marco Pašalić is. His soccer journey has been anything but traditional. Born into a refugee family rebuilding their lives in Germany after escaping the war in Yugoslavia, Marco settled into a working-class lifestyle that shaped his mentality from an early age.
"We never had a lot, money-wise, but we had love at home," Pašalić said. "That's the love you get at home, that's the connection we have in our family, and also with people we met, that you have to be open, you have to become communicative."
While there was love in his household, there was also love for the country his family left behind. Even though Pašalić grew up in Germany, he would often visit family back in Croatia, hear stories from them, and keep that connection in the forefront of his mind. The country he had never lived in was never truly foreign in his eyes. It was home.
"It was important to go there, visit, and then at one point, after playing at Dortmund, I had the decision between Eintracht Braunschweig and Rijeka. I told my father, I tried it my whole life in Germany, something is stopping me, something is not working, it's time to change everything," he said. "I told him, I'm not gonna go somewhere else where I don't know, like some other countries, or where I don't speak the language. I want to go home."
It was during his good run of form to start his tenure at Rijeka that the Croatian national team came calling. He made his debut against Latvia alongside his idol, Luka Modrić, during a Euro 2024 qualifying match.
"When you sit in the hotel after this game, after the Croatia debut, it's an unbelievable feeling, because you sit there, and it's like a movie, and in your head you're playing the movie back," he said. "You put it on restart and think about everything, and then you sit there and say, okay, it's crazy what I actually achieved. What happened from the fifth league in Germany to the Croatian national team, with a lot of difficulties, was everything."
"When I arrive in Croatia, the first day it was sunny, like Orlando, and then in the hotel, I was with my father sitting there, and told him, look down on the ocean, it's so beautiful. I'd say it was the right choice."
As the 2024-25 season at Rijeka was halfway through, Pašalić was ready for another new challenge. Orlando City came calling, along with interest from a club in Italy, but the Lions won out.
"Orlando was the right choice, I would say today, because I've done really good here, I feel good," Pašalić said.
The fit was immediate. The trust the coaching staff placed in him was given back with his play, scoring 15 goals in 41 games, while adding five assists and helping lead the Lions to their best offensive season of Club history.
"You saw it when I played my first game here, that I felt really well, two goals in the first match. No other club did I score in my debut," he said. "The last season speaks for itself, that I felt really good. I have to be thankful that this Club gives me the opportunity to play so many games. I got the recall up for the national team, because I gained it here through the trust of the Club, the trust of everybody here, and I could provide it on the field."
On the heels of that season, Pašalić has continued to receive call-ups for Croatia and finally, at the end of last month, came the call that mattered the most. A trip to play for his country at the World Cup.
With the tournament being held here in the United States and Pašalić already accustomed to the weather, the travel and culture, he is primed to play on the biggest stage in his new adopted home.
"I have to be thankful, and it is a big bonus for me, because I don't need to adapt here," he said. "Everywhere we go, I'm easier to adapt than people coming from Europe to America. And it's nice for America and for MLS, because the people will see how good the league is. A lot of people in Europe still do not believe in this league and say it's not that good, but I can say, because I played in Europe, and I play here, I like the league here. I would say that it's a nice thing that the World Cup is here, that the people from Europe, like I told you, have the experience also with the country, to see how it is, and the life of America, of the cities, and it's so different everywhere here. I think they will have a good experience. It's gonna be a good World Cup."
From his humble beginnings in Germany to a dream realized of a FIFA World Cup in the country he now calls home, the number 87 has carried a lot, proving for not only himself, but for his family that believed in him, that the dream was always worth chasing, no matter how long the road to get there.
"You have to see the positive in everything. It doesn't matter how negative the situation is or what is going to happen; you have to see the positive, and you have to keep going, because you cannot stay. The world is still going. If you stay or not, the world is going, with you or without you. So you have to keep going."
