FIFA World Cup '26: News & Analysis

FIFA World Cup '26: News & Analysis

 

America is now the biggest market for international football

https://www.economist.com/the-world...the-biggest-market-for-international-football

 

OFFICIAL: Tunisia have sacked Sami Trabelsi and his entire coaching staff. 🇹🇳❌ pic.twitter.com/MaloczMloO

— dailysportsafrica.com (@dailysportsug) January 5, 2026

 

Jimmy Hasselbaink has joined the coaching staff of Suriname 🇸🇷.

A Suriname native, he will be the final piece of the coaching staff per the announcement from the SVB.

Played for the Dutch, had a long playing career at clubs such as Chelsea, AZ, Leeds United, and Atlético… pic.twitter.com/rPcdy1rcF8

— The International Window (@windowintlpod) December 18, 2025

 

Massive for Wake Forest University and the Winston-Salem community. Ze Germans are coming, ze Germans are coming!!!

https://godeacs.com/news/2026/1/9/g...n-estate-as-host-site-for-fifa-world-cup-2026

 

Not sure what proof there is. You can cancel an application, but you can't cancel any tickets already purchased. Your only options are to transfer, resell, or keep.

Sounds like sloppy reporting.

See FIFA's Terms of Sale: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/ee9d91f85c9f113/original/FIFA-World-Cup-26-Ticket-Terms-Of-Sale.pdf

"7.7. You cannot amend, cancel or withdraw a Ticket order after it has been submitted. ALL TICKET PURCHASES ARE FINAL. YOU CANNOT ELECT TO CANCEL A PURCHASE OR RETURN ANY TICKETS FOR ANY REASON AFTER YOUR PAYMENT FOR THE TICKET HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY PROCESSED, INCLUDING FOR ANY REASONS OUTSIDE YOUR CONTROL. NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES ARE PERMITTED EXCEPT IN LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES AS PROVIDED HEREIN."

These "LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES" are very limited. Once FIFA gets your money, good luck getting it back!

 

I found the original story who's source was "social media".

https://royanews.tv/news/66526/Fans-cancel-tickets,-FIFA-calls-emergency-meeting-over-World-Cup-backlash

And even if 16,800 tickets were somehow canceled, that's 0.25% of projected attendance.

 

Just media nonsense. All sides publish unsubstantiated crap to suit their agenda. No-one has cancelled tickets. You cannot do that. You can put them up for sale. Lots of people will have cancelled applications but there is no way of knowing who has done that because of a change in their financial situation or the most likely reason, that they want to amend the matches they have applied for. The number will be orders of magnitude bigger than 16,800 because you cannot amend applications only delete and reapply. Besides which the number of cancelled applications is a commercial secret that FIFA will never release. All anyone will have is reactions to a Facebook or Reddit post, which is to say zero real data.

 

Even if it were true, with something like 5.5 million people projected to attend 17k cancellations would be inconsequential.

 

This World Cup will be a disaster. Already reports of cancellations and now this

But sure - some here thinks that the US will host on behalf of CONCACAF "forever" - nah, you need to be forgotten for a while while other hosts it in the meantime.

BREAKING: The U.S. State Department will pause all visa processing for 75 countries starting January 21, 2026, including Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand, and Yemen.

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) January 14, 2026

 

Like the host nation refusing to process your visa? Even if FIFA doesn't refund - the local economies of the host cities will take a hit, most importantly - the US reputation going forward, that's the most damaging

 

What’s your definition of “disaster”? All games will be sold out and played in front of at least a few hundred fans of each of the teams playing (and a lot more in some cases), just like every other World Cup.

The number of fans traveling to the US from any of those countries (except Brazil) was always going to be negligible, so there’s no real impact on the tournament. Especially when we’re talking about people applying for visas with 5 months to go. Those who can afford the trip are overwhelmingly likely to have planned ahead or already be in possession of a long-term visa.

For the record, I agree with you that everything about the current US administration and its policies is reckless and poorly thought out (perhaps intentionally). But you’re wildly overstating the impact that any new visa restrictions will have on a tournament in which most attendees will be residents of the host countries, with thousands more ticketless fans waiting to replace anyone who can’t make the trip. And mentioning the “reports of cancelations” renders your whole argument unserious, as that’s been so thoroughly debunked as bottom-level “made up on the spot” internet slop.

 

You’re reducing “disaster” to “were the seats filled,” which is a really American‑centric way of looking at a global tournament. A World Cup isn’t just about butts in seats, it’s about the movement of people, cultures, media and national delegations. Visa restrictions don’t just affect a few fans; they affect:

• national federations
• journalists
• broadcasters
• sponsors
• support staff
• fan groups
• cultural delegations
• tourism economies in host cities

A World Cup is supposed to be the most globally accessible sporting event on earth. When dozens of countries suddenly face new barriers to entry, the issue isn’t “will the stadium still be full,” it’s that the tournament stops functioning as a global event and becomes a domestic one with visiting teams.

And the idea that “most fans were always going to be locals anyway” misses the point. The World Cup isn’t designed to be a glorified NFL game with tourists sprinkled in. It’s supposed to be a global gathering. If large parts of the world can’t participate whether as fans, media or support staff, that’s a structural failure, not a ticketing issue.

So no, the concern isn’t empty seats. It’s that a tournament meant to unite the world risks becoming logistically, culturally and diplomatically lopsided. A World Cup can sell out every match and still be a mess behind the scenes.

 

I believe this pause applies only to immigrant visas, not tourist visas. If that’s the case, it will have little effect on the World Cup.

 

Do you have a more specific source for the visa restriction info? Everything I’m seeing says it only applies to immigration visas (for residency). With short-term business and tourist visas unaffected, all the groups you listed above can still get their visas (if they hadn’t already).

 

When you have a host country where senior politicians openly floated banning Iran’s delegation or hinted that certain Iranian players might be denied entry, that’s not normal. That’s a sign of a host nation treating a global tournament like a domestic political tool.

Even if those threats never became policy, the fact that they were made at all damages the credibility of the event. National teams are supposed to be guaranteed safe, apolitical access under FIFA hosting rules. When a host country publicly entertains the idea of blocking a qualified team or selectively denying visas to players, it signals to the world that participation isn’t guaranteed, it’s conditional on the host’s political mood.

Combine that with the new visa restrictions affecting dozens of countries and you get a tournament that feels less like a global celebration and more like a gated event where access depends on geopolitics.

That’s the failure - the damaged reputation on a global scale which will hinder the US from hosting again in a while

 

My prediction: US will be awarded another WC to host/cohost before the Trump reign ends.

I get what you're saying, but you're forgetting that Infantino factor.

 

I saw on Twitter that Uruguay selected Playa del Carmen as their base camp (nice). Germany has selected Wake Forest in North Carolina. Have any others been announced?

 

He'll be long gone by then, the peace prize he awarded to Trump was viewed very negatively within FIFA - here went rogue on this one.

Besides, he's been prepping his post-FIFA career hence choosing carefully when to be political and when to declare FIFA is apolitical

 

Brazil at Red Bull Facilities in Morristown, New Jersey

 

That will be on 30 April when the FIFA Congress is scheduled to award the USA - with Mexico and Jamaica - the 2031 WWC; the UK is scheduled to be awarded the 2035 edition at the same Congress.

Incidentally, both competitions will feature 48 teams for the first time.

 

In terms of overall quality and competitiveness, I found this data to be instructive:

- 2018 draw pot 3 ended at FIFA rank 34;
- 2022 draw pot 3 ended at FIFA rank 35;
- 2026 draw pot 3 ended at FIFA rank 61 (which coincidentally was the lowest-ranked team in 2022, it was FIFA rank 63 in 2018).