One hundred and two matches down, just two to go. And only one of them carries any real importance.
When the final ball is kicked on Sunday, how will the FIFA World Cup 2026 be remembered? It had standout moments, players and goals, but what did we learn about the current state of the world’s most popular sport.
For starters, despite the expanded roster of nations represented, the same teams dominated – the final four were many people’s picks at the beginning of the tournament. France and England fell at the semi-final stage, but not before furthering questions about identity and representation. Yet despite teams being more diverse than ever, racism is sadly still present in the game.
Elsewhere, we discovered that despite – or because of – the widespread use of video assistant referee (VAR), controversial calls will remain major talking points. Governing body FIFA meanwhile did little to improve its image during the tournament, and a cloud hangs over its ability not to be swayed by powerful nations and figures.
So on to the final, which will feature a “tactically complete” Spain take on an Argentina “built around the extraordinary commitment” of players around Lionel Messi, as one of our writers put it. I’m making no predictions, but I will note that even before the first ball was kicked in this World Cup, we ran an article based on 100,000 computer simulations that suggested that the likely winner would be … Spain.
