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Chapter 1: What is the significance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America?
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is the Sunday Story from Up First. In just a few days, billions of people from around the globe will tune in to the most watched sporting event there is, the FIFA World Cup. This year, three nations will co-host the tournament, Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. And the field will be the biggest ever, expanding from 32 national teams to 48.
Today on the Sunday Story, a primer on all things World Cup, from the favorites and the underdogs, to Shakira, and to the global reach and unifying power of soccer. Stay with us.
This message comes from WISE, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart. Get WISE. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. The surreal horror film Back Rooms is a smash. The director is a 20-year-old YouTuber and it's based on his popular web series.
Why is this online phenomenon taking off at the box office? We get into it on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
We're back with a Sunday story. So it's probably not much of an exaggeration to say the world's attention is about to be on soccer or football, you know, depending on where you're from. That's because the World Cup kicks off this week. And since I'm a soccer novice, to say the least, I'm getting some help on this subject.
I'm joined today by NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan and NPR's Jasmine Garst, a diehard soccer fan and host of the podcast The Last Cup. They're both covering the World Cup for NPR this year. Welcome to both of you. Hey there, Aisha. Hi. So the World Cup tournament is being played in the U.S. for the first time in over 30 years.
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Chapter 2: How does the expansion to 48 teams impact the World Cup experience?
I know a lot of people are really, really pumped about this. Yeah. Help me understand, like, what makes people so excited about this event and what does it mean to each of you?
Yeah, I mean, it's the biggest sporting event in the entire world. So, you know, just to give you a sense of the context, the Super Bowl, which is the biggest sporting event in the U.S. maybe, averages something over 100 million live viewers. But the World Cup final, you should think like five times that much. So, you know, outside of the Olympics, it's basically the biggest thing.
And in fact, depending on how you're calculating it, it's bigger than the Olympics overall. Any country with a soccer team can qualify. Theoretically, the qualification process takes years. So there's years of building up excitement for this level. And so, yeah, I mean, you've got people from Jasmine. What do you think?
Like South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, all tuning in, not to mention, of course, here in the U.S. and the rest of North America as well. It's just huge. Yeah.
It's like the Super Bowl of the world. And I think in order to understand how huge it is, you have to understand how enormous soccer, football is in countries outside of the U.S., in many countries outside of the U.S. Soccer is like the unofficial religion. It's also like a social mobility machine. I mean, the dream machine.
You know, the version of the American dream is like, you become a soccer player, you become a millionaire, you get out of poverty. I mean, soccer is so much more than soccer.
That makes so much sense. Like, I have to say, I'm a big fan of spectacle and people coming together. But let me ask you, like, is this normal, like having three countries co-hosting the tournament?
I actually know this is the first time that there are three countries co-hosting, but it has gotten more common over the years to have a joint bid. I think the idea is that there's more existing infrastructure in place, more stadiums that are already built that you can use. the more cities, the more countries you have co-hosting the bid.
So this joint bid thing definitely has gotten more common and is going to continue to be more common in the years to come. But what we've got in this tournament is the U.S. co-hosting alongside Mexico and Canada. So 11 cities here in the States, two cities in Canada, three cities in Mexico. So the opening game that's going to be in Mexico City this Thursday night, the U.S.
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Chapter 3: What challenges do international fans face in attending the World Cup?
Like, are they good?
Yeah. The U.S. obviously is like historically a huge underdog compared to the traditional powerhouses of soccer, which are in Europe and in South America. So we're talking like England, Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil. Those are sort of the traditional powerhouses. The U.S. is absolutely not on their level. And so do they have a chance to win the World Cup? Sure, they have a chance.
Sounds like probably not. That's what it sounds like. You're hesitating.
Anything is possible, Aisha.
You're like, anything is possible.
Anything is possible when you are down to the 11 guys on each team and the ball on the pitch. And who can say? But it would definitely be a gigantic, huge underdog story if they did pull it off. Right.
As for the team, you know, this group of guys in this sort of World Cup here on home soil has been circled on the calendar for a long time because, you know, this is sort of like the first generation of American players who grew up playing soccer in these academies, developmental things, and then went overseas to play in Europe. And so our biggest stars play for some of Europe's top flight clubs.
The U.S. has players... who are playing in the English Premier League, players in the top Italian league called Serie A, they have players in the top French league, et cetera, et cetera. And the key guys, you know, Christian Pulisic, he's the sort of star forward, the guy who scores the most goals.
Pulisic driving through.
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