Global football, written sharply
The story so far. The 2026 World Cup draw on 5 December 2025 split 48 teams into twelve groups of four. The format is new and it changes everything: the top two from each group advance, plus the eight best third-placed sides, 32 teams into the knockouts. Finishing third is no longer fatal, which quietly … Read more
Four days before the United States opens its home World Cup, the US opener tickets for World Cup 2026 still have not sold out, and the way FIFA has priced this tournament means that is not an accident of weak interest so much as a confession written into the algorithm. As of June 8, FIFA’s … Read more
If you are trying to work out how to get to Levi’s Stadium for the World Cup 2026 start with one uncomfortable fact the official guides bury under a list of transit logos: Levi’s is the most car-dependent venue on the entire North American host map, and on match days the roads, trails and rideshare … Read more
Somali referee Omar Artan denied US entry despite a valid visa, missing the 2026 World Cup. We examine what happened, what’s disputed, and what it means.
Getting to a World Cup stadium is a solved problem, every host city has spent two years publishing maps and adding shuttle lanes. World Cup 2026 post-match transport is the part nobody fixed, and it is the part that will define how the tournament actually feels: 60,000 people trying to leave the same car park … Read more
The forecasts for the opening week have arrived, and they have turned World Cup 2026 heat from a background worry into the single most practical question facing anyone with a ticket. Almost every analysis published this month has framed it as a player-welfare story, whether elite athletes can survive a 5pm kickoff in Miami. That … Read more
Iran landed in Tijuana amid a bitter US visa dispute. We break down what happened, what it means for their campaign, and what the wider implications are.
Iran’s World Cup delegation faces visa denials for key staff days before their opener vs New Zealand. We break down the facts, the politics and what happen…
The first United States match of the World Cup 2026 kicks off at SoFi Stadium on 12 June, when the USMNT face Paraguay. The people who will pour the beer, plate the food and turn over the hotel rooms for the visitors arriving to watch it have spent the past week voting to walk out. … Read more
If you are flying into Kansas City for a World Cup 2026 group game, the single question that will decide whether your day is joyful or miserable is deceptively boring: how do you actually get to Arrowhead Stadium for the World Cup 2026? There is no train. There is barely any parking. And the bus … Read more
