written by Nicolas Gaubens–Mistchouk
The 2026 football World Cup marks a turning point because of its unprecedented scale. Indeed, it is the first ever edition organized in 3 different countries. For the first time, 48 national teams will participate, instead of the usual 32 teams. It is almost doubling the number of matches, from 64 to 104 matches in total.
Most of the matches, including the final, will be played in the United States of America . Therefore, as the main host nation, the United States of America has introduced several elements of American sports culture into the tournament. The stadiums are the ones used during American football matches. Hydration breaks can be compared to quarter breaks that exist in basketball and American football. Finally, during the halftime of the final, there will be a musical show like the Super Bowl, with Shakira, Madonna and BTS.
This World Cup with its 48 national teams is expected to have more spectacular moments compared to the preceding World Cup. Small nations can create additional surprises during the phase of direct eliminations, such as Paraguay, which won against Germany on penalties. Matches between important football nations can be directly played earlier than before like during the quarter-final and the round of 16. However, the organization of 48 national teams could create a less prestigious edition because qualification is easier when there are more spots available.
Even if this cultural Americanization could create a unique identity for this World Cup, some people could deplore the loss of identity for football. For example, the hydration breaks are strongly criticized because they disrupt the flow of the game in the middle for 3 or 4 advertisements in each of the 2 periods.
The United States of America, is widely seen as the world’s leading capitalist economy. So, for this World Cup, the main objective is the same as for the other events held in the country. It is to maximize profits by all means, and not directly to satisfy the spectators and consumers.
However, this objective could not have been completed entirely and uniquely by the United States of America and so the country needed a strong relationship with FIFA and especially its president Gianni Infantino. FIFA is a non-profit organization, but for many years, even decades, the organization has been earning money and always making the most profits possible. The 2026 World Cup is a great example of this turning point.
Of course, the economic benefits for the 3 countries are huge. The general costs of the organization are split between the 3 hosting countries. Indeed, it distributes among the 3 countries the costs of the construction and the improvement of the infrastructure and stadiums. The Economist estimates that 6.5 million people are going to attend the World Cup and visit the hosting countries. It is expected to generate 4.9 billion dollars of GDP, 8.28 billion dollars of social benefits, and create a total of 824,000 jobs in these countries.
This capitalization of this World Cup can be really noticed especially through the organization of a liberal market for the tickets, regulated by supply and demand. This has never been done in any World Cup before. In the past, prices for matches were fixed and could not vary. This means that this year, if there is a high demand for a match, the prices will really go up. Therefore, the tickets for matches can cost from $6 for the less attractive ones up to $7,000 and even $40,000 for the final. Moreover, the prices for public transport have also been impacted by this market. The cities where football matches are played decided to raise the prices of buses and trains by 10 times to go to the stadiums. Comparatively, the transport during the World Cup in Qatar was free once passengers paid for their tickets.
This appropriation of the World Cup by the United Stateso of America, supported by FIFA, does not have the objective to improve the World Cup quality for its organization or for the matches. This appropriation is not primarily in favor of the spectators, even if some indirect returns can contribute to that. It means that all of the decisions and measures have the objective to optimize the revenues for the United States of America and FIFA even if FIFA is a non-profit organization.
The logic of capitalization and pursuit of profit during World Cups is not going to be stopped at this 2026 edition. The 2030 World Cup will as well be organized in 6 countries, Portugal, Spain, Morocco and the first matches of the national teams of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will be played in their own countries. Therefore, the system of 48 national teams is probably going to be kept as well as the logic of profit-seeking by FIFA.
