ROCK HILL – Six players of Latin American origin make up the ranks of the two teams that face each other on February 8 in the NFL final. The group includes the first Venezuelan in the Super Bowl, Patriots kicker Andy Borregales. Probably not all of them are in play, but they already set a record for athletes with Hispanic roots at the peak of American football. We live the Latin passion for this sport, seen through the eyes of a young prospect and his family.

First modification: 02/07/2026 - 19:01

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“I know who I am, I know where I come from, I know what I have inside.” In Héctor Santana's head, thoughts, plans and strategies flow in Spanish as he takes the field to play as a kicker for his university, Bethel College in Kansas.

One of the moments he treasures with the most emotion is the day when all his teammates ate arepas for the first time thanks to him. “I want to live American football from who I am, play it my way, I have always tried to transfer a part of me to the sport,” he says.

The experience of this 19-year-old Venezuelan prospect is probably the same one that six Latin American players will go through this February 8 at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, during the Super Bowl, the pinnacle moment of American sports, which is now more than ever experienced in Spanish.

About 20 players with Latin roots have played in the Super Bowl before, there are even Hispanic legends who have won it, such as Mexicans Efrén Herrera and Raúl Allegre, but there have never been so many men of this origin coinciding in the NFL grand final as on this occasion.

On the Patriots side, rookie Andy Borregales will be the first Venezuelan to fight for the Vince Lombardi trophy; Cornerback Christian González, whose father is Colombian, arrives as a hero after having contributed the key interception in the American Conference final, and safety of Panamanian origin Jaylinn Hawkins will try to prolong his great personal moment.

The Seattle Seahawks, for their part, will have on the field a player of Mexican origin, rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo, who has recovered just in time from an injury, another of mixed roots, the safety grandson of a Mexican and a Cuban Julian Love, and a center back born, raised and trained in the Puerto Rican youth league, Federico Maranges.

At a time when the anti-immigration discourse of the Donald Trump Government and its MAGA movement have been particularly harsh against the Latino community in the United States, the representation in the Super Bowl shows how Hispanic families have integrated into the purest expression of local sports culture.

“At home we watch American football all day,” says Carolina Coronado, Héctor's mother. "On January 1 we are watching the Rose Bowl, the NFL all season, the college games. My husband (Héctor, Sr.) supports the Patriots, my children support the Texans and I support the Titans, because they were the first ones I saw play live."

A growing phenomenon

The 2025-2026 season began with 47 Latinos in the NFL, 32 on main rosters (each with 53 players) and 15 on reserve teams, made up of 16 men. That represents 1.8% of rosters and 2.9% of practice squads.

That proportion has been completely disrupted in this Super Bowl, because of the 90 available to take the field, 6.6% have Latin American roots.

It is the reflection of the spaces conquered on the path of integration by first, second and even third generation Latinos, like Julian Love.

Héctor Santana, who came to the United States when he was nine years old, is an example of this: when he finished high school in Dallas, he was one of just three students from his school who entered college on a football scholarship.

“The coach told us: 'believe it, be proud, this is something that only 1% of people achieve,'” Carolina remembers.

Héctor always played soccer in his native Venezuela and in his early years in the United States, but as soon as he entered middle school, he explored American soccer as a way to integrate.

"I told myself 'I want to try the sport here', and over time I discovered not only that it was very fun, but that I could be good. Belonging to the team gave me all the relationships I have now, because in the end you find friends in what you love to do," he says.

Like the Puerto Rican Federico Maranges, Héctor has not had the exclusive American academies that polish the performance of each position.

"We can't afford a specialized academy, but we have studied a lot. We spent hours researching together, watching videos, to convert his soccer center kick into an American football kicker. Thus, and with a scholarship that allowed him to spend a year at a local academy, he earned a university place," recalls Héctor's father.

He refined it so much that in his last year of high school he set a record for his school in Dallas, with a 49-yard kick.

For Maranges there were no academies or talent detection system either, until at the age of 14 when Hurricane María disrupted everything. His family was forced to leave Puerto Rico, but in Miami he did not have to start from scratch. His talent was enough of an introduction to earn him a scholarship and end up being the captain of the Florida Atlantic University team.

Maranges and Borregales are, of the six who will be in action at the Super Bowl, the only ones who lived the experience of migration, those who make visible the face of uprooting, but also of integration.

Andy Borregales, the Patriots' Venezuelan, arrived in Miami when he was two years old. Spanish is spoken at home and he has never lost his Caracas accent. He came to the NFL inspired by his brother José, who played with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and today he is an inspiration himself.

For his part, Héctor Santana confesses: "You never know what is going to happen, but it has always been my dream to play at a higher level...Ever since I saw José Borregales and then Andy, I felt very identified, because I had always believed that I was the only Venezuelan doing this. Being a kicker and being Venezuelan, I would like to achieve what Andy has achieved."

Like Héctor, Andy has confessed that his amulet to go far has been not to forget where he comes from. "I carry Venezuela in my heart. Representing my country in the NFL is a huge honor," he told ESPN.

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The "Colombian Wall" that opens doors

When Christian González, born and raised in Texas, was selected in the first round of the NFL draft in 2023, he surprised everyone when he opened his jacket, which showed the Colombian flag on the inside.

It was a nod to his father from Cali, who is now celebrating for the second time seeing one of his sons at the top of his sport.

Christian will be the second Colombian to play in a Super Bowl, after Fernando Velasco in 2016 with the Carolina Panthers, but before that one of his sisters, Melissa, had already represented the country in the Olympic Games, by running the 400 m hurdles in Tokyo 2020. After that, he set the record of 54.80 that remains the Colombian national record.

Christian, the “Colombian Wall,” as the 23-year-old cornerback has begun to be called after the interception under the snow against the Broncos that sealed the ticket to the Super Bowl, has crossed other borders beyond his sport.

Just as the world champion with the albiceleste Ángel Di María exchanged greetings with Andy Borregales, the Bayern Munich star Luis Díaz sent his wishes of “good luck to my Colombian brother” in a video.

Within Colombia, his example has begun to drive the development of flag football, a non-contact version of American football that will debut in the Olympic program at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and that could have NFL figures in action.

The experience lived as a family has been key to Latin American success in the NFL and is key to the integration of those who dream of reaching the highest level.

“Since Héctor started in soccer we have not missed a single one of his games,” Carolina, the mother of the young Venezuelan prospect, proudly says. “We have traveled eight hours to Missouri, and in the college season we travel five hours to see him play at home.”

Like Christian González, who had his best numbers this season since playing in the NFL, Jaylinn Hawkins, of Panamanian origin, is becoming an undisputed piece of the Patriots, a key figure in their defense.

He has never been to Panama, his grandmother's land, but he says that he grew up “eating good food, rice with chicken, rice with coconut, fish, plantains and all that.” Now he promises to play “representing my country” and has expressed his desire to go to promote American football in the isthmus when the season ends.

It is a path against the current of recent examples. Double Olympic 100m hurdles medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn is the sister of Robert Quinn, a former player for several NFL teams, but while she chose to represent Puerto Rico, in honor of her maternal roots, he has never shown identification beyond his native United States.

Arroyo and Love, both of Mexican origin, are an exception in the Latino presence in this Super Bowl, because unlike the rest they are not a rarity. American football is one of the most popular sports among fans on the other side of the Rio Grande, with leagues, tradition and extensive knowledge.

“Here in Dallas, the Cowboys have their own Latin bars, and most of the members are of Mexican origin,” says Carolina, Héctor's mother. “While many Venezuelan or Colombian immigrants are coming to the NFL because of Andy or Christian, Mexicans follow the entire season.”

Arroyo is an example of that development. He was born in the United States, but grew up in Mexico, due to his father's work commitments, and it was there where he started at the age of seven and where he played for the first time, with the Trojans of Cancún. He then returned to his native country at 13, with a vital asset to reach the NFL.

“Playing there turned me into a team player, someone who thinks first about my teammates and not just about statistics,” he said in a contact with the press. "Those first years are where you really build your confidence as a player. That's where you discover who you are on the field, and for me, that was born playing in Mexico."

Maybe not all of them speak Spanish like Borregales, Maranges and Arroyo, but apart from the huge Latin community that will fill the stands of Levi's Stadium this February 8, there will be six men on the field capable of connecting from the blood with the rhythms of Bad Bunny during the halftime show.

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