The most recent World Cup was in 2022, ending on Dec. 18th, after Argentina scored their penalty shot, breaking the tie between them and France. This left the final score to 4-3. Finally, after 4 long years, we get to experience that exciting thrill again. This year, in 2026, the FIFA World Cup is coming back; here’s what to expect! This year, the first match is on Jun. 11th, a Thursday, and the last match is on Jul. 19th, a Sunday.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the oldest football traditions to exist, dating back to the 1930’s when they hosted their first official World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay. The most recent World Cup was in 2022, held in Qatar, making it the first time it was hosted in the Middle East. It ended on Dec. 18, after Argentina scored their penalty shot, breaking the tie between them and France and leaving the final score to 4-3.

This year, FIFA decided to change their setup, increasing to 48 teams instead of 32. This also changed how the teams would be grouped because previously there were 16 groups of three, while now there would be 12 groups of four, which meant that each team would play three group stage matches, one against every team in its group.

This is important because it means that the World Cup will go on for longer and we will get to see more matches, but although players get to see more matches due to the increase in teams, it seems that it has caused quite a stir. So, Nathan Dmochowski, a boys’ varsity Football Coach at Patriot High School, shared what he thought of it.

Mr. Dmochowski says, “I think it makes it more competitive… it’s a great thing [because] we give more countries a chance to play” he also says that the difference between this World Cup and previous ones is that “it’s going to be in multiple countries…and the extended field length.”

The increased number of groups means new countries participating in the World Cup, with some returning after a long time and some being first timers. A few examples are Uzbekistan, Jordon, and Curaçao.

So, not only is this year’s World Cup setup different, but also this year the World Cup is being hosted in three different countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This is unusual because the World Cup is usually held in one country, and the only other time it was co-hosted was in 2002, and it was only between two countries: Japan and South Korea.

Mr. Dmochowski says, “being in North America will bring more attention to it [the World Cup]” when talking about the multiple host countries.

The three host countries are exceptionally large, so deciding which cities to play matches in was an easy job. Some of the major host cities are Toronto, Mexico City, and Philadelphia.

How do teams qualify?

Qualifications for the World Cup started in September of 2023, in which the top six teams from the last World Cup, like Argentina and France, automatically qualified. But that’s just six teams, so for other teams to qualify, they must go through multistage tournaments run by their continental confederations.

Continent confederations are governing bodies for sports recognized by FIFA, most commonly for Football and American football. There are six such confederations: UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean), and OFC (Oceania). All six confederations are recognized by FIFA, giving them certain rights and duties they must oblige to, like said in FIFA’s Article 22.

Usually, during the World Cup, the region that has the most qualifiers is UEFA (Europe), partially because Football is the most popular sport in European countries. The runners-up would be CAF (Africa), not only due to the 35 percent of Football popularity there and 10/10 interest rates, but also because of how large the continent is and the number of countries that play professionally every year.

Key teams to watch

There are 48 teams playing this year, which is an increase from the usual number of 32 teams that play in the World Cup, so now you’ve got more options on which teams you want to watch, but what teams should you watch?

Some of the key teams to watch would be Argentina or France, considering they were the last teams standing in the last World Cup or Croatia and Morocco because of their disciplined plays and history as underdogs. But still that would be hard to decide upon, so we asked Andrew Plodnick, a soccer player at Patriot High school what teams he’s going to be rooting for this year, to which he responded, “The United States.”

Mr. Dmochowski says, “definitely pay attention to the US…Morocco,” when asked what some of the key teams to watch are. This year, FIFA is facing significant backlash and approximately 17,000 returned tickets for increasing ticket prices to four times as much as the last World Cup’s prices, with fans accusing FIFA of a “monumental betrayal.” But the increased prices aren’t the only reason people seem to be boycotting the World Cup; Trump has decided to have ICE at some of the venues, concerning many fans as to what might happen. A lot of people have also heard about Trump suspending the visas of 75 different countries, causing a lot of panic for the people who wanted to attend the World Cup. The specific area of this panic is that they won’t be able to get a visa in time for the World Cup.

Although it has its issues, the FIFA World Cup is one of the longest-lasting football traditions in the world that happens every 4 years. It brings people from all over the world together to enjoy one of their most beloved sports with fans such as themselves. Returning in 2026, after 4 long years, the FIFA World Cup is back, with larger fields and new teams: we can’t wait for it to begin.