After spanning across the globe from Europe to Africa, the FIFA World Cup is making its second appearance in North America this summer on June 11. This article will outline everything you need to know about the world’s most renowned tournament, from the cities it’s played in to the major headlines.
Since its inception in 1930, the World Cup has been held in many of the most prominent countries throughout the world. This year, FIFA will continue that tradition, with America, Canada, and Mexico as its hosts. Sixteen of North America’s premier cities, including Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and Mexico City, will all be under the spotlight. Between these 16 cities, 104 different matches will be played starring 48 teams, the most in World Cup history.
As the World Cup nears, more major headlines are starting to pop up with it. One of the biggest of these headlines revolves around the teams that didn’t make the cut. Most notably, Italy and Poland were recently eliminated from the World Cup after losing their respective qualifying playoff games. Despite Italy being one of the most successful countries in World Cup history with four titles, this loss marks the third consecutive time the country has missed out on even qualifying for the tournament.
As for Poland, their heartbreaking loss means that Robert Lewandowski, widely known as the greatest Polish player of all time and one of the best strikers of our generation, has likely played his last World Cup game. Along with the eliminated teams, a wave of other controversies arose, such as Neymar not being selected for Brazil’s national team and Iran’s potential absence from the tournament due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
With all of the recent qualifying games and the international break between March 23rd and March 31st, many teams have emerged as heavy favorites. Despite being eliminated before the Round of 16 in the past two World Cups, Spain still tops the charts. Notably, Spain is home to Lamine Yamal and Pedri, who are two of the brightest young stars across the globe. Behind Spain, France and England tightly follow, who are both star-studded as well, with players such as Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane, respectively. The reigning champions, Argentina, are slightly behind these two teams at fifth as they look to win back to back World Cups.
Spain’s national team starring Lamine Yamal (#19) and Pedri (#20)
Whether you’ve been watching soccer for your whole life or are just looking to get into it, there is no better opportunity to watch the sport than this summer as the world’s greatest sporting event comes to North America, bigger and better than it’s ever been before.
