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Chapter 1: What makes the 2026 World Cup unique?
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From The New York Times, this is The Sunday Daily. I'm Natalie Kitroff. We're coming to you a day early because tomorrow, our colleagues at The Interview are going to drop an episode with Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes. He was just fired from CBS this week after a blowup with the program's new executive producer. So that's tomorrow.
On today's show, we're going to talk about what's set to be the most watched sports event on the planet, the 2026 World Cup. There's been no shortage of controversy surrounding this tournament, from exorbitant ticket prices to legal threats over those prices to the geopolitical tensions hanging over it all.
But when the games begin this coming week, the focus will inevitably turn to the competition, which is bigger than ever this year. Billions of people will be watching from all over the globe, screaming at their televisions, parading in the streets, painting their faces, and beating drums in stadiums.
So to get us all ready for this World Cup, our global soccer correspondent Tarek Panja tells us everything we need to know about the teams, the games, and the dramas that are about to captivate the world.
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Chapter 2: How many teams are participating in the 2026 World Cup?
It's Saturday, June 6th. Tarek, welcome to the Sunday Daily from across the pond. It's wonderful to have you here.
It's wonderful to be with you.
So you have been covering soccer for a very long time. How many World Cups have you been to, remind me?
I have been to sixth, and the next one will be my seventh.
That's so many.
It sounds like a lot. You age with these tournaments as well. I'm a very old man now.
Yeah, were you a baby at your first one?
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Chapter 3: What are the major controversies surrounding ticket prices?
Yeah, almost. I went as a teenager with my brother. We had a fantastic summer in France in 1998.
Who were you rooting for?
I'm from England, so we were rooting for England, but it was just being at the World Cup and around this international armada of fans was just fantastic.
Okay, so you are something of a fan. I, to situate myself, am the daughter of a fan. My dad is Greek, and I think it would be an understatement to say that soccer is the single most important thing in his entire life. And for our purposes here today, we are coming to you, Tarek, because... You're not just someone who's been to a lot of these things. You are an expert on this tournament.
And from my understanding, the one we're about to see is very different.
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Chapter 4: Who are the historic first-time qualifiers for this World Cup?
It's bigger than ever. And for those of us who don't think about this every single day, I want to break this down. Let's start with what is new here. What makes this World Cup special?
This is the biggest tournament in terms of host nations. The number of host nations, three. That's never happened before. You have... Mexico, Canada and the United States of America, which will have the bulk of the games and all across the US. So you're going from the West Coast with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle listed as host cities there.
Then coming across, you've got Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Kansas City. And then Miami, Boston, Philadelphia.
Chapter 5: What are the potential dark horse teams in the tournament?
And then we have the final. which will be in New York. Well, actually, in New Jersey. So that's a lot of places.
So many different cities. It's insane.
Yeah.
Okay, and there's also more teams, right? It's not just more cities, more places, more countries, but more actual participants?
Yeah, this is the other great innovation of this tournament. This is the first time we're going to have 48 teams at a FIFA World Cup. It has been 32 since that first World Cup that I went to in 98 in France.
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Chapter 6: Who are the favorites to win the World Cup?
And now we've added more teams, 48 teams. It's arguably the easiest World Cup to qualify for as well because you have more teams. However, unfortunately for them, we're not going to see Italy again.
Yeah, they somehow found a way to not qualify for the easiest one to qualify for, which also includes Greece, which is my dad's team, so RIP to us. 48 teams is a lot, as you're saying. How many actual games need to be played between these teams in order to start eliminating them? Like, how long is this going to take?
We're going to have 72 group stage games. So that's the start of the tournament. The teams are divided into blocks of four, 12 of these. And it's going to take a huge amount of time to eliminate 12 teams. Four games a day for 24 straight days.
Chapter 7: How do ticket prices compare to previous World Cups?
Is that too much? I guess we're going to find out.
Yeah, or if you are extremely pumped about this, like I understand billions of people are, is that just the right amount?
Well, you know, if you're an employer, I guess it's not what you want. You're going to have a few people either being bleary-eyed in the morning or not showing up to work because of football.
And why are they doing this? Why do they make it so much bigger?
Well, one of the reasons is pure football politics. FIFA is a membership organization of 211 nations. Every four years, they gather to elect or reelect the president. And when he's able to give out more gifts, it's much easier to be reelected. So here we are, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president.
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Chapter 8: What is the fan experience like during the World Cup?
He's decided to expand it to 48 teams.
So this serves him.
Yeah, of course, there's a glass half full way of looking at this as well. Adding more teams gives more countries more chances to play in the best tournament in the world. And now we are giving the opportunity to fans and populations all across the world who may have never sampled this to get that World Cup magic in their country.
Right, and the idea is that that magic is being shared because there are all these new, smaller countries that are now getting a chance this year.
Yeah, smaller in the soccer sense. In the footballing world, these aren't powerhouse nations. Some geographically small, some maybe not so geographically small, but really haven't made a mark on the game significantly. So we must start with the smallest. Please. Curaçao.
Curaçao have done it!
The only thing I knew about Curacao that it was a blue cocktail drink.
A blue wave is heading to the World Cup.
But it is a country in the Caribbean, population of 160,000.
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