{"id":812237,"date":"2026-07-20T12:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812237\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:53:09","slug":"taking-stock-of-2026-world-cup-footballs-biggest-show-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812237\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking stock of 2026 World Cup: Football’s biggest show yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football didn’t have it easy at the 2026 World Cup<\/a>, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico\u00a0and Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were questionable decisions by FIFA,\u00a0the sport’s governing body, as well as a lot of spectacle\u00a0and a final in which only one team actually played football.<\/p>\n

After a total of 104 games in this biggest-ever\u00a0World Cup, Spain were deservedly crowned champions<\/a>, and, for the first time, a country’s men’s and women’s teams are simultaneously world champions.<\/p>\n

FIFA President Gianni Infantino<\/a> described the tournament as the “greatest sporting, social and cultural event in humanity.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

US\u00a0President Donald Trump<\/a> congratulated FIFA on what he called “one of the all-time greatest sporting events in history.”<\/p>\n

But was it really?\u00a0Here’s what will be remembered.<\/p>\n

How did viewers receive the biggest Cup yet?<\/p>\n

Fears of empty stadiums \u2014 especially in the United States, where international football isn’t the No. 1 sport \u2014 proved unfounded. According to FIFA,\u00a06,810,966 fans attended the tournament<\/a>, the first to be co-hosted by three countries. This set a new record for\u00a0World Cup attendance.<\/p>\n

Given that the schedule featured 104 matches, instead of 64 at previous tournaments, record attendance is no surprise.\u00a0The average match attendance was about 65,000, and, according to FIFA, 99.7%\u00a0of all available seats were filled. However, many empty seats were visible in stadiums, especially during the group stage.<\/p>\n

Hydration breaks draw criticism<\/p>\n

Fans criticized the newly introduced hydration breaks<\/a>. Most coaches, however, supported the breaks \u2014 or, at least, did not complain about them.<\/p>\n

Uruguay\u2019s now-former coach, Marcelo Bielsa, on the other hand, criticized the additional opportunity to influence the game.<\/p>\n

“Playing four halves instead of two changes the culturally shaped perception of football,”\u00a0he said. “These breaks add nothing to the game, but take a lot away from it.”<\/p>\n

\"JulianGermany felt the advantages and disadvantages of the hydration breaksImage: Jan Woitas\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

The 2026 World Cup’s many surprises<\/p>\n

World Cup newcomer Cape Verde caused quite a stir. The small African nation<\/a> held eventual world champions Spain to a 0-0 draw<\/a> and narrowly lost to defending champions Argentina in extra time in the round of 32.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Republic of Congo<\/a> celebrated a 1-1 draw against Portugal and its superstar,\u00a0Cristiano Ronaldo.\u00a0Paraguay knocked Germany out of the tournament<\/a> in the round of 32. Curacao, the smallest World Cup participant<\/a>, made history by scoring their\u00a0first-ever World Cup goal against\u00a0Germany\u00a0and earned their\u00a0first-ever World Cup point against Ecuador.<\/p>\n

Price madness at World Cup<\/p>\n

This\u00a0World Cup was expensive. Fans had to dig deep into their pockets for tickets<\/a>, hotels, parking fees\u00a0and flights. Prices inside the stadiums caused additional frustration. In the United States, beer prices could top $20 (\u20ac17.50), French fries ran \u20ac17, and even a bottle of water fetched \u20ac7.<\/p>\n

In Mexico, too, food and drinks were significantly more expensive than usual. At the Azteca Stadium, where the opening match took place, a beer cost the equivalent of about \u20ac15.50 \u2014 almost as much as the country’s minimum daily wage.<\/p>\n

\"ATickets for the final were unaffordable and unattainable for most people Image: Martin Rickett\/PA Wire\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Donald\u00a0Trump’s World Cup<\/p>\n

There was widespread concern that\u00a0Trump might use the World Cup to advance his political agenda. After all, the US\u00a0president had repeatedly declared the tournament to be his personal prestige project. Yet Trump didn\u2019t show up at the stadium until the final and largely kept a low profile during the tournament.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the 80-year-old sparked\u00a0the biggest scandal of the tournament. After US\u00a0forward Folarin Balogun was shown a red card<\/a>, Trump successfully lobbied FInfantino to review the automatic ban for the next game.<\/p>\n

Balogun was allowed to play in the round-of-16 match against Belgium, but couldn’t stop the United States from losing 4-1.<\/p>\n

“The current FIFA president has bowed to Donald Trump,”\u00a0said Sepp Blatter, Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA boss. However, the criticism is unlikely to jeopardize Infantino’s reelection as FIFA president should he seek the post a third time in March 2027.<\/p>\n

World Cup incidents<\/p>\n

The war in the Middle East<\/a> and unrest in Mexico<\/a> had raised significant security concerns in the run-up to the tournament. Though the games largely\u00a0went off without a hitch in Canada and the United States, there were several incidents in Mexico. Fans stormed an already overcrowded fan zone in Guadalajara, in another incident a car plowed into a crowd following a national team win, and several people died during victory celebrations in Mexico City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like numerous fans, particularly from African countries, Somali referee Omar Artan was\u00a0denied entry into the United States\u00a0despite having a valid visa<\/a>, with US authorities alleging that he had ties to a terror organization in his home country. Artan is expected to receive his salary for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"IvoryMany fans from Africa were not allowed to travel to the US for gamesImage: John E Sokolowski\/IMAGN IMAGES\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

The World Cup human rights situation<\/p>\n

Many human rights organizations have given FIFA<\/a> an extremely poor rating.<\/p>\n

“This World Cup has been played against a backdrop of the US government\u2019s abusive immigration crackdown,” said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said there had been a “failure by FIFA to uphold its own human rights standards.”<\/p>\n

This seems to contradict FIFA’s claims of the\u00a0“most inclusive World Cup in history.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“FIFA had promised that everyone could feel safe. The truth is different. ICE, for example, has doubled the number of arrests,”\u00a0said Daniel Norona of Amnesty International<\/a> USA.<\/p>\n

Ronan Evain, of the fan organization “Football Supporters Europe,”\u00a0criticized the opaque process for issuing visas to fans, particularly those from non-European countries.<\/p>\n

“Our observations have revealed little or no evidence that ticket holders from Africa and Asia actually received visas to enter the US,”\u00a0Evain said.<\/p>\n

What’s next after the World Cup?<\/p>\n

Infantino has discussed his desire to further expand the World Cup, from 48 to 64 teams. Instead of the current 104 matches, there would then be 128.<\/p>\n

“That is definitely an issue that will be examined after this World Cup and discussed within the committees,” Infantino\u00a0told the Swiss broadcaster blue Sport.<\/p>\n

Despite the widespread criticism of Infantino, his position as FIFA president is not in jeopardy. On the contrary: More games mean more money that he can distribute to the member nations.<\/p>\n

If reelected in March, Infantino would be in charge until 2031, a year after the next World Cup<\/a>, which is to be spread over three continents<\/a>. A total of three games will be played in Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina\u00a0before the tournament moves to\u00a0Spain, Portugal and Morocco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published\u00a0in German.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football didn’t have it easy at the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico\u00a0and Canada.\u00a0 There…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-812237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}