One Nation Won the World Cup. One Book Was Given to All 48.

As a record 6.8 million fans and 62.8 million American viewers made 2026 the biggest World Cup in history, one small devotional was carried by hand into the crowds and gifted to Brazil’s Seleção and supporters from every nation. Now its authors are turning that moment into a global mission — pledging every dollar of proceeds to build churches in Malawi and feed the homeless in the United States.

On Sunday, Spain lifted the trophy. But four days later, the story still traveling around the world isn’t about who won the biggest World Cup in history — it’s about a small book that belonged to everyone who lost, too.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup shattered every record ever set: a staggering 6.81 million fans filled stadiums across the United States, Mexico and Canada at 99.7% capacity, and Spain’s 1–0 victory over Argentina drew 62.8 million U.S. viewers — the most-watched soccer broadcast in American history. Forty-eight nations. One hundred and four matches. One planet, watching the same thing at the same time.

And moving quietly through those record crowds, passed from one hand to the next, was “The Prayer: Rise with Jesus” — an award-winning devotional that its creators didn’t come to sell. They came to give it away.

Wearing Brazil’s canary-yellow shirt, Brazilian author Stefania Leão and her co-author, illustrator, and publisher — Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur Alexander Debelov — hand-delivered signed copies to Brazil’s Seleção, its staff, and fans carrying the flags of dozens of countries. No booth. No banner. No sale. Just a book, offered one hand at a time, to anyone who came.

“Every nation sent a team. We came with a book for all of them,” said Debelov. “The World Cup can only crown one winner. We wanted to hand something to everyone else — the fans, the strangers, the people no camera was pointed at. That book was the only thing at the tournament that belonged to all 48 flags at once.”

The book was never the point. It was the beginning.

Here is what makes this bigger than a bestseller: the authors keep none of the money.

Every dollar “The Prayer” earns — every copy sold in six languages, every royalty from a record-breaking year — funds two missions on opposite ends of the earth. In Malawi, one of the world’s poorest nations, the team prints a free translation of the book in Chichewa, the local language, and carries the copies in by hand — “not mailed to a warehouse,” they say, “but placed into people’s hands, one by one.” Proceeds also help build churches there. In the United States, the same royalties fund homeless outreach on the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin.

“Prayer began as a silent conversation with God, in one of the hardest seasons of my life,” said Leão, who first wrote the book in Portuguese and never intended to publish it. “I never imagined it would be read by anyone — let alone carried into a World Cup, and then into villages in Malawi. The book saved me first. Now it’s meant to reach the people the world forgets.”

The result is a rare kind of story: a project that connected the biggest, most-watched event in human history to some of its most invisible people — and used one to serve the other.

A movement with the receipts to back it up

This is not a hopeful start-up with a slogan. “The Prayer: Rise with Jesus” arrives at the World Cup as a genuine phenomenon:

• #1 Amazon Best Seller in three languages — Christian Prayer Books, Religion in Portuguese, and Religion in Italian;
• Three international book awards in a single year — the Best Indie Book Award, the Storytrade Award, and Readers’ Favorite;
• Published in six languages — English, Portuguese, Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian — plus a free Chichewa edition for Malawi;
• Editorial coverage across seven countries — including The Christian Post, Church Times of London, Vision Christian Media (Australia), Baptist News Global, UCB Asia Pacific, Revista Pernambuco (Brazil), Christian Tribune (Taiwan), and CVandaag (Netherlands).

See it for yourself

The full World Cup story — with photos from the stadiums, the hotel signing, and the handoff to Brazil’s delegation — is documented at readtheprayer.com/world-cup. The authors are now inviting readers, churches, and fans from every one of the 48 nations to join what they call a global “team” — one built not on where you’re from, but on who you’re willing to help. Every copy purchased sends a free book, and a piece of a church, to someone who will never see a World Cup stadium.

“The trophy stays in Spain. The mission goes everywhere else,” Debelov said. “A championship lasts a season. We’re building something that outlives all of us.”