I had concerns about the increase in the number of teams before the tournament started. The fears turned out to be unfounded. Strong teams in basketball and hockey always advance through the group stage and qualify for spots. FIFA World Cup now follows the same system.
It was an easily forgettable World Cup, with just a couple of memorable moments (the Cape Verdean team and Vozinha) or some less-than-pleasant incidents (the Argentines’ disgusting behavior during and after the final), but that’s it. Next one please.
I would say that the general hatred of Argentines increased a little, I live in Brazil, normally they don't like Argentines anymore, but in my work the insults towards them increased, and the truth is that I think I leave a bad “final” face for Messi, who looked like a crybaby
Overall, I enjoyed the championship. Expanding the field to 48 teams didn't spoil the event. Cape Verde won the hearts of all the fans. France and Portugal were my favorites, but they were unlucky enough to run into a very strong Spanish side. I really disliked the fact that the officiating favored Argentina throughout the tournament. The water breaks also seemed ridiculous—it was all just for the sake of advertising. Spain’s victory was well-deserved and fair; they conceded only one goal during the entire tournament.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup delivered record-breaking drama, a massive 48-team expansion, and a thrilling final where Spain's rising stars defeated Argentina. However, the tournament sparked fierce debates over strict entry policies, controversial VAR interventions, and political distractions.
What did you think of the 2026 World Cup?
I'm not a big fan of rules/format changes (look at the mess the European competitions are ATM - especially the UCL, a competition followed by every sports fan in the World, is a joke - the big teams don't prioritize this competition as much as it's not tough to finish in the Top 24 out of 36 teams to qualify to the Playoffs), so I had low expectations of World Cup 2026 and it was much better than I've expected - many very entertaining matches and even the social media/commentary/interviews were worth following (for example Zlatan + Henry were pure gold 👍😎); overall I'll give it an 8/10 and I'm not someone that gives high ratings to anything 😆
I'm not a big fan of rules/format changes (look at the mess the European competitions are ATM - especially the UCL, a competition followed by every sports fan in the World, is a joke - the big teams don't prioritize this competition as much as it's not tough to finish in the Top 24 out of 36 teams to qualify to the Playoffs), so I had low expectations of World Cup 2026 and it was much better than I've expected - many very entertaining matches and even the social media/commentary/interviews were worth following (for example Zlatan + Henry were pure gold 👍😎); overall I'll give it an 8/10 and I'm not someone that gives high ratings to anything 😆
Not a fan of this World Cup , lot of strange games , scores and one bad idea to split game in 4 quarters among other things 🙁
Big fan of match for 3rd place (fake finale) . Too bad most of teams on WC didnt play like that from beginning , would have been much more interesting competition .
Sadly , greed has destroyed this one
Big fan of match for 3rd place (fake finale) . Too bad most of teams on WC didnt play like that from beginning , would have been much more interesting competition .
Sadly , greed has destroyed this one
This World Cup was for me dissapointed, many reasons therefore already mentioned here. 104 games and the only real fantastic one was the bronzemedal game of the semifinalloosers which no one was realy interested in. (Ok, Mexico -England was also great) I look forward to the UEFA European Championships in 2 years in the UK and Ireland. (Football is coming home). The quality will be much better, no rough South American bonebreakers, no middle East teams who only fill up the huge schedule with boring games (sorry, I do not want to offend any users from South America ore Middle East here) and referees with no idea when yellow or red cards have to be shown. And an audience who want to see a football match and not an event. And hopefully no halftime shows and hydration breaks. I trust in the football culture in the UK.
It was tournament of high Highs and low Lows. Definite highlights were Spain winning, Capo Verde, Norway & African teams pushing hard. Lows were overall behaviour and scandals, curse of germany & brazil & ofc how Argentina stained themselves.