The World Cup in the world's most popular sport is about to kick off on 11 June. For the first time, it is being hosted by three countries: Mexico, Canada and the USA. The USA hosted the Football World Cup on its own in 1994. Mexico hosted it in 1970 and 1986. Canada has never hosted it. The 2026 World Cup also features 48 teams, as opposed to the 32 teams that participated until now.
It is the FIFA World Cup, FIFA being the acronym for the French name of the body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. In a sop to the francophone world, the official name of FIFA is in French, although English is the working language. The headquarters of FIFA are in Zurich, Switzerland, which is a German-speaking city.
Why is football so popular? It is a somewhat egalitarian sport. Height and muscularity are not great advantages in this sport. Moreover, it is very cheap to play. All you need is a ball and a bit of space for an informal game. Goalposts can be improvised. There is no need for costly equipment or a special playing surface. It can be played in all climates. That is why it is played in every country in the world. It is increasingly popular among women.
In Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, it is the champion of sports. It is true that on the subcontinent, cricket reigns supreme. In Australia, a sport called Australian Rules Football ("Aussie Rules") is more popular than the sport internationally known as football. In Australia, the sport that is called football in most countries is known as "soccer", just as it is in the USA.
Americans call the sport soccer. If an American says "football", he means American football, which is a sport in which people almost never kick the ball. The word soccer is derived from the "soc" part of the word association. In Ireland, too, the sport is known as soccer, in contradistinction to Gaelic football.
Countries spent two years qualifying for the World Cup. This is the 23rd World Cup, to be played in 16 host cities, of which two are in Canada, three are in Mexico, and the remainder are in the United States.
Morocco made a bid to host the FIFA World Cup but was beaten by the joint bid of the USA, Canada and Mexico. Only one African country has ever hosted the World Cup, and that was South Africa in 2010. The host nations qualify for the World Cup ex officio.
Some countries will be making their first-ever appearance at the World Cup this year. Uzbekistan is one of them—no Central Asian country has ever qualified before. Cabo Verde has also qualified for the first time. No African island nation has ever qualified, and there are four other such African island nations, namely the Seychelles, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe, and the Comoros. Jordan is also making its World Cup debut. Curaçao, a tiny Dutch overseas territory in the Caribbean, is in the World Cup for the first time.
Widening the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams was controversial. The same was said when it expanded to 32 from 16 in the 1980s.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has a number of guaranteed places in the World Cup. People pointed out that UEFA's number of places was out of proportion to its population. Asia and Africa have grown rapidly in population. Some argued that some UEFA spots should be reallocated to Africa and Asia.
This was fiercely resisted by UEFA, which argued that the standard of football played by European national teams was higher. The solution was to permit UEFA to retain its number of World Cup places while also allotting more places to other continents and thereby increasing the number of participating countries.
Some say that 48 teams mean too many matches—104 in all. It is not possible to watch them all. Time zones also present a challenge. Matches have to be played at a reasonable hour in the USA to ensure full stadiums. Some fans have flown to the USA to support their teams. However, many Americans will be in the stadiums watching other countries play.
The World Cup is divided into 12 groups of four countries. The groups are named Groups A to L. The group stage is a round-robin competition, as every team in a group plays every other team in that same group. Thus, every country is guaranteed three matches. The total number of matches in each group will therefore be six.
The winner of each group goes through to the second round, as does the runner-up. Eight of the highest-scoring third-placed teams will also go on to the second round, making 32 teams in all. The second round is an elimination round. Lose a game, and you are out of the World Cup. The second round is the round of 32 teams.
Then there is the round of 16, followed by the quarter-finals with eight teams and the semi-finals with four teams. The losers of the semi-finals then have a play-off to determine who comes third. Finally, there is the World Cup Final to determine who wins the Jules Rimet Trophy, to the tune of Freddie Mercury's "We Are the Champions". This is scheduled to be played in New Jersey, near New York.
The current World Cup champions are Argentina. No nation has ever successfully defended the World Cup title. Argentina’s victory over France in 2022 came as a surprise to many. In the final, France was trailing 2–0 before recovering to force extra time, but Argentina ultimately prevailed. The last time Mexico hosted the World Cup, in 1986, Argentina were the champions. They are considered to have a 20% chance of winning this time.
France also has a serious chance. It has won the World Cup twice, in 1998 and 2018. On both occasions, it won as the host nation. France has qualified for every World Cup except one, when it failed to qualify after being eliminated by Bulgaria for the 1994 tournament. However, with France, it is often a case of triumph or disaster. For example, in 2002, it was knocked out in the group stage after suffering a humiliating defeat to its former colony, Senegal. This time, France is considered to have a 10% chance of winning.
Brazil has won the World Cup a record five times and is always a serious contender. However, in recent years, the team has not been as dazzling as it once was. This time, Brazil is considered to have a 20% chance of winning.
Germany is also thought to have a considerable chance. It has won the World Cup four times, the second-highest total of any nation. The team is methodical, excellently trained and highly motivated, even by the standards of international athletes. However, this year Germany has not appeared to be as superb as usual. It is rated as having a 10% chance of winning.
England was recently ranked the sixth-strongest team in the world. The English have sometimes underperformed but have failed to qualify for the World Cup only once, in 1994. The birthplace of modern football has a serious chance this time. The team with the Three Lions on its shirt has not won the World Cup since England hosted the tournament in 1966. England is considered to have a 10% chance of winning.
Spain has a vibrant team and a thriving football culture. The Spaniards won the World Cup only once, in 2010, when they badly needed a morale boost as their economy was in the doldrums. This time, Spain is considered to have a 10% chance of winning.
There is also a 20% chance that another lower-ranked team will win, such as Croatia, the finalists in 2018, or the Netherlands, who have reached the final three times but have never won the tournament. It is noteworthy that the World Cup has only ever been won by South American nations—Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay—or by European nations such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England.
The question remains as to why some gigantic countries perform so poorly at football. China and India both have populations of about 1.4 billion, but have seldom qualified for the World Cup. By contrast, countries with much smaller populations, such as the Republic of Ireland, with around five million people, have qualified on several occasions.
The World Cup is due to last 39 days, which is a week longer than before.
The USA is a contentious choice as a host. It has banned a Somali referee, and the Iranian team feels very uncomfortable about competing in what it regards as an enemy nation. Moreover, football is not especially popular in the United States. Basketball and American football are the major sports there, whereas "soccer" is not.
As of 25 May, clubs had released their players to their national teams to train for the World Cup. Teams fly into the host nations about a week before kick-off to avoid any delays to flights and to allow time to acclimatise and adjust to the time zone.
The host nations also had to decide which cities would serve as host cities. They required suitable stadia, together with local governments and police forces that were able and willing to assist. Some stadia have natural grass surfaces, while others have artificial turf. A stadium must have a capacity of at least 40,000 spectators to host World Cup matches.
There is a cost to hosting the World Cup. Governments reason that it is worthwhile because of the additional revenue generated by tourism.
The automatic qualification of the host nations is controversial. The USA would probably have qualified anyway. In the case of Mexico, qualification would have been less certain. Canada would very likely not have qualified.
Qatar has qualified in its own right for the first time. Last time, it qualified automatically because it was the host nation.
Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are making only their second-ever appearances at the World Cup. Iraq is also making its second appearance. Scotland is back in the World Cup for the first time since 1998, when Scottish fans sang to their team, "Don't come home too soon." Ironically, they went home after the first round. Türkiye is in the World Cup for the first time since 2002.
New Zealand is ranked 85th among FIFA's approximately 190 member nations. How, then, is it participating in a 48-team competition? The answer lies in the number of World Cup places allocated to each continent.
In a shock development, Italy failed to qualify. This is widely regarded as a national disaster in a country that has won the World Cup four times.
Europe has 16 places. Asia, including Australia, has nine places. North America and the Caribbean have six. South America has six. Africa has ten, while Oceania has one place. In 2025, the places in each group were allocated by a random draw at a ceremony in Washington.
Each nation may bring a squad of between 23 and 26 players, of whom three should be goalkeepers. Only 11 players are on the field at any one time, and a maximum of five substitutions are permitted during normal time, with one additional substitution allowed if the match goes into extra time. However, the manager can choose which players to field for any particular match. Moreover, the squad normally includes at least one reserve player for every position. It travels with its coaches, physiotherapist, doctor, psychologist and, in some cases, other ancillary staff.
Each host nation will have its own opening ceremony, and the host nation will play in that ceremony's opening match.
The USA has temporarily rescinded its travel ban for citizens of certain countries if they are FIFA officials. Iran is concerned about the safety and treatment of its players and supporters. The USA has stated that the Iranian flag may be displayed at the World Cup.