Editorial of July 2, 2026

Beyond the World Cup

It’s July. It’s hot, humid, sunny, rainy, green, noisy, busy, crowded—and not particularly relaxing. It’s also the beginning, this week, of the round of 32—the knockout round—of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, whose 48 teams have been duking it out in brilliant form on soccer pitches across Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.—three in Mexico; two in Canada; 11 in the U.S.—since June 11.

In the early stage of the great contest, the group stage, these 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four to play round-robin matches. Each team played three games—giving their fans 144 games to watch over a period of two weeks and two days—for the most part, four games a day. That’s a healthy amount of soccer. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams then advanced to the 32-team knockout round, sending 16 teams back home. This is where we are now, and will be until the World Cup final, in New York, on July 19 (right in the middle of the highly popular and universally televised Tour de France). No time to watch any news.

Each FIFA World Cup team is entitled to bring 23 to 26 players, plus up to nine more to fill in for training. Eleven staff members—manager, coaches, trainers, physiotherapist, and the required team doctor—are allowed on the bench at a game, although more staff might be sitting in the background. So, in fact, each team might bring as many as 50 players and staff to the World Cup, where they camp out in a variety of chosen towns and cities in the three host countries for at least the early two-week stage and its preliminary training period. That’s a sizable number of people to house, feed, nurture, amuse and, wonder of wonders, support.