2026 FIFA World Cup thread [R]

What a circus. The Village People? Really? Just do the draw in a staff meeting and report the results the next day.

 

Wait, no Pitbull?

 

I'm holding out for Toto.

"I bless the rains down in Africa!"

(I always thought it was "guess", not "bless").

 

Yeah, I could never understand why someone would so passionately sing "I guess it rains down in Africa" over and over. It struck me as the peak of vapidity of LA-produced pop rock. "Bless" makes it a little better I guess, though I'm not sure that's the kind of line you'd passionately repeat over and over either. But then again it reminds me of my new song, "San Jose".

"I wrote a post on Big Soooooooo-oo-oo-cer,
I wrote a post on Big Soooooooo-oo-oo-cer,
I wrote a post on Big Soooooooo-oo-oo-cer,
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had, ooh-hoo"

 

Blessed rain.

 

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Thursday, December 4, 2025​

Alan Rothenberg on the World Cup’s most iconic draw: How Las Vegas set a ‘big event’ tone for 1994​

by Mike Woitalla
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Alan Rothenberg (left) and FIFA president Joao Havelange.​

Alan Rothenberg served as the CEO of the USA-hosted 1994 World Cup, whose attendance record remains unsurpassed despite having fewer games than the seven World Cup that followed.​

That a nation without a soccer pro league would pull off such a successful World Cup was far from certain when Rothenberg was put in charge in 1990. ​

A spectacular World Cup draw was one part of Rothenberg's buildup strategy. He orchestrated an unprecedented version of the event that featured a slew of A-list celebrities.​

“The final draw in Las Vegas in December 1993 helped set the big-event tone,” Rothenberg writes in his memoir, "The Big Bounce: The Surge That Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer," to be released in February. “It was clear to me from the beginning of our organizational effort that we had to make the World Cup a big event in every way imaginable. That was why we got as many celebrities as we could to liven up events that might otherwise have been staid.​

“The night before the final draw, we had a big banquet with James Brown and Smokey Robinson as the featured entertainers. We also created the first-ever FIFA World Cup Expo.”​

The Expo, at which venues, sponsors and licensees displayed their wares and liberally gifted swag, took place at Caesars Palace and was expected to attract 2,000 visitors. About 8,000 showed up.​

The 90-minute draw show took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and was televised to a global audience of 500 million.​

Dick Clark and Faye Dunaway hosted. Comedian Robin Williams emceed for about 10 minutes during the Pot 4 segment with FIFA Secretary General Sepp Blatter. James Brown, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow and Vanessa Williams performed on stage. A Rod Stewart performance was delivered via video.
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“Robin Williams emceeing the draw was just on fire,” writes Rothenberg. “His routine still gets picked up on YouTube. He loved soccer and was excited to be there and he was having a great time joking with anyone and everyone. He kept calling Blatter ‘Sepp Bladder,’ making a little cupping motion for emphasis, even after Sepp scolded him, ‘This is not a comedy.’ We couldn’t stop laughing. What a genius.”​

Other celebrities appearing on stage included Tom Selleck and Beau Bridges, Mario Andretti and heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield. Video messages came from President Bill Clinton, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff, the Harlem Globetrotters et al.​

Soccer legends of the past — Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten, Eusebio and Bobby Charlton — also appeared on stage. But it took Rothenberg’s ingenuity to get the biggest of them all into the auditorium.​

Pele had been banned from FIFA events by its president, Joao Havelange, because Pele had accused Havelange’s son-in-law, Brazilian federation chief Ricardo Teixeira, of corruption.​

“Havelange forbade us from using Pelé as part of the draw,” writes Rothenberg. “So, we got creative. We arranged for Pelé to be given a credential and make a dramatic entrance just as the draw was about to start. Havelange was fuming, but we got our Pelé moment.”
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Left: From Soccer America's coverage of the Las Vegas draw in December of 1993. Right: Rothenberg was reelected for a second term as U.S. Soccer president in the summer of 1994.​

Rothenberg, U.S. Soccer’s president in 1990-1998, was also charged with launching Major Soccer League after the 1994 World Cup:​

“Virtually everyone involved in the commercial side of sport was present in Las Vegas. So, we took the opportunity to make the first introduction of our planned professional league to potential investors, sponsors, and the media. Momentum for what became Major League Soccer began to build at that moment.”​

The league launched in 1996 with 10 teams. It concludes its 30th season (with 30 teams) with MLS Cup 2025 on Saturday, a day after the 2026 World Cup draw.​

There had been reports last July that the draw would again take place in Las Vegas. After President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino met in August, they announced it would be held in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center.​

This time, there are no concerns about filling the stadiums.​

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• 
  
  
  • "The Big Bounce: The Surge That Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer" By Alan Rothenberg (Triumph Books, 272 pages). Release date: Feb. 10. Available to preorder.

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Thursday, December 4, 2025
The nation’s capital’s brief role in World Cup 2026 gets underway​

by Mike Woitalla​

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My previous familiarity with the Kennedy Center came from televised broadcasts of “The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.”
Larry David’s ironically slide-splitting tribute speech for 2005 honoree Steve Martin convinced me it was must-viewing. In all broadcasts, frequent camera shots of the audience’s reaction provide some sense of the concert hall’s grandeur. ​

On Friday, the center, which opened in 1971 and memorializes the 35th president, will host the 2026 World Cup Draw. ​

On Wednesday, as scores of workers were prepping the center, one could peek past a boom lift to get a slight glimpse of the interior. The World Cup-related action so far took place at other venues.​

A mile up the road, the Washington Marriott Georgetown’s third-level mezzanine was hosting the “Commercial Partners Summit.” The agenda had launched Tuesday includes workshops on ticketing and hospitality and “1v1 Sessions with FWC26/FIFA."​

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Most eye-catching were the displays of collectible plush — which I used to call stuffed animals — memorabilia, toys and pillowy balls.
Jazwares is the official worldwide plush licensee of the FIFA World Cup 2026. The Florida-based toy company is famous for selling 480 million Squishmallows. The World Cup toys are already available on FIFA’s online store. I was told they’ll start appearing in American brick and mortar stores in April or May.​

The Jazwares rep is here to make deals with World Cup 2026 sponsors, who could slap their brand logos on them. That, I thought, is part of the “partners” aspect of the summit. But you’d have to go elsewhere for a reliable explanation on the various sponsorship tiering and marketing levels that access the money streams from what will be the biggest and longest World Cup ever.​

I was set to retrieve my media credential at Watergate Hotel. I had wondered whether I’d find any commemoration of the 1972 scandal. Its Room 214 was used by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy as their command center to direct President Richard Nixon's "White House Plumbers" to plant listening devices in Democratic National Committee headquarters.​

But I delayed my departure when I noticed unusual looking vending machines along the walls, the top of which had HD screens airing soccer highlights. A closer look revealed they dispensed portable phone chargers. You simply pulled one out and borrowed it as long as you needed before returning it to a slot on the machine.​

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I tried one out for a few minutes, replaced it, and thought how wonderful it would be if the World Cup stadiums provided that free service on the honor system. A nice gesture to fans paying exorbitant ticket prices.
Of course, they’re only free here at the Partners Summit. In the real world one will pay rent, and probably about $50 if not returned. The quest, it seems, is that companies attending the summit will be enticed to pay for advertising on the screens that showed the montages of World Cup action.​

The FIFA World Cup Trophy at the United States Capitol ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)​

The press pickup went impressively efficient at the Watergate. And although I didn’t see it, I discovered that Room 214 still exists, but is now called the “Scandal Suite.” Like a mini-museum, it has items including a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The walls are decorated with framed front pages of the newspaper coverage of the scandal that ended Nixon’s presidency, and sent Hunt and Liddy to prison.​

Amenities include two custom “cover up” robes. ​

I passed at least 50 National Guard men and women, clustered in groups of five or more, on my 1-mile walk. The pedestrians in this posh part of town were formally clad businessmen and businesswomen, and students from the several universities in the area.​

My walk ended at Kennedy Center’s adjunct REACH building, where the first media event was the FIFA Legends panel discussion. It featured Dunga (Brazil), Marcelo Balboa (USA), Atiba Hutchinson (Canada) and Luis Hernández (Mexico). ​

Marcelo Balboa (L) and Dunga. (Photo by Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)​

Watching the friendliness between Dunga and Balboa, you’d never have guessed they were the two fiercest tacklers on the field when, at the 1994 World Cup, Brazil beat the USA, 1-0, in the round of 16 at Stanford Stadium on the Fourth of July.​

Dunga said that was the toughest game during Brazil’s run to winning the trophy that had been placed on the stage after posing for photos with D.C. monuments.​

When the panel discussion concluded after questions from the press, a reporter in front of me whose hand-raising had been ignored, complained about the softball questions: "No one asked what they thought about the high ticket prices!"​

On Thursday, the venue chiefs will meet the press and FIFA will update us on plans such as refereeing. MLS Commissioner Don Garber will give a state of the league address at D.C. United's Audi Stadium, two days before MLS’s 30th season ends.​

It was at the 1994 World Cup draw in Las Vegas that Alan Rothenberg outlined plans for MLS’s launch.​

At that World Cup, Washington’s RFK Stadium hosted five games. The nation’s capital won’t host any games next summer. But it will play a 2026 World Cup role for about 90 minutes on Friday.​

 

Unless I live to be 92, this will be my last WC on US soil. While I'm getting cautiously excited about the US being competitive after the fall friendlies, I'm less excited about the organization and logistics with tickets and venues. Still, there is time, just not real excited at this moment (still hoping to go to the Levi games, possibly a US game, and some of the upper round games.

 

In 1994, although I was a lot younger, working and going to school, I actually quit my job to follow the World Cup tournament.

I must have attended each training session Brazil had at Santa Clara University, attended all the games at Stanford as well as the WC final in Pasadena.

I also partied every night with all the Brazilians in Los Gatos.

I had a blast back then but 32 years onward, I’ve lost the desire to attend and would rather watch on TV.

I do have a feeling though, the USA will land another tournament and it won’t be in 30 years.

No other nation on earth can boast our facilities and awarding the USA another tournament as opposed to other nations ,should be an easy selection.

 

So how about the teams competing in the WCQ playoffs?

How are they going to be drawn?

 

Watching Tom Brady struggling to open the little pods with the names in it was hilarious , and Wayne Gretzkey completely butchered the pronouncement of a couple of the countries names .

 

Paraguay and Australia seem like reasonably difficult competition, no? Turkey would be, as well.