The FIFA World Cup's viewership is truly in a league of its own. No other sporting event comes close to matching its colossal television ratings. The 2022 World Cup Soccer final, by itself, was watched live by 1.5 billion people. That is the number of viewers of the final match alone, never mind the rest of the matches in the tournament. The cumulative audience for the 2006 FIFA tournament over all 64 matches reached an astounding 26 billion viewers. To put that in perspective, the highly-watched 2008 Olympics came in at 7.4 billion. The Soccer World Cup is, without a doubt, the Biggest Show on Earth. And next year it gets even bigger. The 2022 World Cup featured 32 teams, but the 2026 World Cup will have 48 teams playing for the title of world champion. Given the increase in the number of teams, the 2026 tournament will obviously feature more matches too, an increase from 64 to 104 matches. Just imagine what that could mean for the aggregate viewership numbers next year.
Since the tournament began the World Cup trophy has been lifted by only eight national teams. The table below shows lists of all the hosts and all the winners since the tournament's inception in 1930.
As is evident in the table, no team outside of Europe or South America has won the tournament. This may be a reflection of the talent in those countries, but there are many good players all over the world and questions were raised for years at the governing level about how representative the tournament really is of the best soccer-playing nations. As early as 2013, the FIFA head at that time, Sepp Blatter, spoke of expanding the tournament to include more countries. In the October 2013 edition of the FIFA Weekly publication Blatter wrote that: "From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalization finally taken seriously, and the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup. It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the World Cup."
Following the magazine's publication, changes in the organization meant the allocation of additional berths to non-UEFA (i.e. non-European) countries. In October 2016, newly elected FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated his support for an expanded World Cup and in January of 2017 FIFA as an organization confirmed that the 2026 World Cup will have 48 finalist teams. This decision, championed by FIFA to promote globalization in football, has allocated many more of these coveted slots to nations across Africa and Asia, providing deserved status and opportunity to emerging footballing powers. There will be 10 teams from Africa at the finals tournament in 2026 and there will be 7 from Asia. All but 2 of these teams, one from each of Africa and Asia, have already confirmed their spots. See the picture at top of this article for the full list of teams that have qualified. It includes those likely to go through. At present, at least 36-38 teams have qualified or are very likely to qualify, so there are only a few berths remaining. 42 of the 48 teams will be known in early December, with a UEFA and non-UEFA playoffs happening in March where 4 and 2 more teams (respectively) will go through.
Most of these stadiums will be at capacity for these soccer games. Certainly, the final stages of the tournament will be completely sold out. The tournament next summer promises to be historic in many ways. There will be a total of 1,248 players - 48 teams with a squad of 26 players each - and that excludes the rest of the coaching, management and medical staff accompanying every team. The number of players, professional staff, attendees and viewers for the 2026 World Cup is forecasted to dramatically increase since the last edition of the tournament in 2022, because of the expansion in the number of countries.
Aside for the increased numbers of people involved, entire countries are also notable beneficiaries of a larger tournament. For instance, Mexico has the unique honor of being the first country ever to host games in three different World Cups. Not surprising they were included as hosts again, the expansion to 48 teams necessitates an immense scale for the tournament itself. And Mexico has previously successfully hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986. Perhaps, next year, they will be the first country outside of Europe or South America to win a World Cup title. There is a distinct advantage to being the home team. There are 6 teams that have won the trophy when they hosted the tournament - Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England 1966, Germany 1974, Argentina 1978 and France in 1998.
Does that mean Team USA has a chance too, albeit a small one? The answer is, relative to recent prior competitions, yes. A patriotic, just for fun, $100 bet on the US, gets you between $4,000-$6,000 (for an overall win) on most betting sites right now.
Canada is a beneficiary of a larger tournament size, as they get to host matches for the first time. And given the expansion to 48 teams, a few smaller nations will be a part of the tournament for their maiden playing appearances. They are Cape Verde, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. Suriname are not quite guaranteed a spot yet, Panama can still ruin their hopes, but it would be their first time too. These small countries are not likely to win the World Cup, but being at the tournament really is the victory for them and their players. Let's hope many more smaller nations make it in now and in future. e.g New Caledonia could still qualify via the playoffs in March next year. The inclusion of smaller nations would be good for everyone involved.
In the final analysis, only 4 teams from Europe and 2 from the rest of the world won't be decided until March 2026, but the 42 teams that have qualified directly will be known by November 18th (e.g. dates for the key remaining UEFA and CONCACAF matches in November are bottom of this page). The draw for the group spots takes place in December 5th in Washington DC after which the brackets for the finals will be set, aside for the 6 missing playoff names which will only be known in March next year.
After the draw, most traditionally strong teams will feel secure in their groups and will know who their tougher competition is in order to get to the knockout rounds, despite the fact that 6 team names will still be missing at the end of this year. Most of those 6 sides will be weaker, on paper, than the teams that have already qualified directly. e.g. hypothetically adding New Caledonia to Brazil's group won't mean the South Americans lose any sleep.
But, one group won't be so lucky. It looks likely that Italy will be in the UEFA playoffs in March and, should they go through, they will be a disruption on any group that is missing a name after December 5th. It will be a hell of a thing for Italy to go on and win the World Cup after having to play off just to be there. In effect, Italy's knockout stages will start in March and, with a bruised ego, they will be ready to prove their doubters wrong next summer and show why they are one of the best teams to ever play the beautiful game. If they do get through and win they will equal Brazil's record total of 5 trophies. That is incentive enough to make the Italian squad an extremely dangerous prospect to the other teams in their group, whoever they are. Remarkably, the other team with 4 World Cup trophies, Germany, may be forced the March playoff route too. That will happen if they do not beat Slovakia in Leipzig on November 17th.
Besides the few teams that still have to qualify, there are other big names that are closer to qualifying directly (see picture at top), and they will be gunning for the trophy with everything they have got. France have got Mbappé, Portugal have got Ronaldo and Argentina have got Messi, if he decides to play again. Messi will turn 39 years old during the tournament, so may not be physically as strong as he once was, but the other Argentinian players and their management have, not surprisingly, stated that the national team's doors will always be open for him. We can only hope he makes it and is part of the tournament, as it wouldn't be the same without him. I think the prospect of his biggest rival, Ronaldo, playing in the tournament is enough to ensure Messi will do all he can to be fit and ready for it. Just imagine an Argentina versus Portugal final.
The World Cup finals itself starts in June and ends on Sunday July 19th, 2026. Feel free to mark that date in your calendar as "Biggest Live Show in History of TV".
