COUNTDOWN TO THE WORLD CUP: THE 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP BEGINS ON THURSDAY JUNE 11

By: Isaac Amponsah (Dr Ike)

• The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd edition since the tournament started in 1930. The quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026. 

• The opening game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be between Mexico and South Africa at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

• FIFA World Cup started with 13 Nations (7 from South America, 4 from Europe, and 2 from North America). Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final. Argentina led 2-1 half-time, but Uruguay mounted a comeback in the second half, securing the trophy with goals from Hector Castro, Santos Iriarte, and Jose Pedro Cea.

• The number of participants in the tournament continued to increase until it reached 16 between 1934 and 1978 except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India, Scotland, and Turkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams.

• The number of participating countries was expanded to 24 teams in 1982, and then to 32 in 1998.

 • Expansion to 48 teams:

• In October 2016, FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup in 2026. On January 10, 2017, FIFA confirmed the 2026 World Cup will have 48 finalist teams.

• The tournament will be the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted by three nations: Mexico, Canada and United States. It will be jointly hosted by sixteen cities - eleven in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. As the host nations, Canada, Mexico, and the United States all automatically qualified.

• It will be the first men's World Cup since 2002 to be co-hosted by multiple nations. With its past hosting of the 1970 and 1986 tournaments, Mexico will become the first country to host or co-host the men's World Cup three times. The United States previously hosted the men's World Cup in 1994. By contrast, it will be Canada's first time hosting or co-hosting the men's tournament.

• The event will return to its traditional Northern Hemisphere summer schedule after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was uniquely held in November and December.

• The tournament has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. The reigning champions are Argentina, who won their third title at the 2022 World Cup by defeating France.

• Since the maiden edition in 1930, eighteen (18) countries have hosted the FIFA World Cup, most recently Qatar, who hosted the 2022 event. The 2026 tournament will be jointly hosted by Mexico, Canada, and the United States, which will give Mexico the distinction of being the first country to host games in three FIFA World Cups.

• As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, twenty-two (22) final tournaments have been held since the event's inception in 1930, and a total of 80 national teams have competed. Brazil is the only team to have played in every FIFA World Cup tournament.

• Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan will all make their FIFA World Cup debuts in the 2026 edition.

• The trophy has been won by only eight (8) national teams with Brazil been the most successful country with 5 titles, followed by Germany and Italy, with four (4) titles each; Argentina, with three (3) titles; France and inaugural winner Uruguay, each with two (2) titles; and England and Spain, with one (1) title each.

• The FIFA World Cup is globally regarded as the most prestigious association football competition, as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world. 

• The viewership of the 2018 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 3.57 billion, close to half of the global population, while the engagement with the 2022 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 5 billion, with about 1.5 billion people watching the final match.

• Since the inception of the FIFA World Cup tournament, two different trophies have been awarded to the winners of the competition.  

• From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the FIFA World Cup winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet who set up the first tournament. 

• In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered, apparently melted down by the thieves.

• After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the 53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18 carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb).

• The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world. From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of victory."

• This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold original immediately afterwards.

• All members (players, coaches, and managers) of the top three teams receive medals with an insignia of the FIFA World Cup Trophy; winners' (gold), runners-up (silver), and third-place (bronze). In the 2002 edition, fourth-place medals were awarded to hosts South Korea. 

• Before the 1978 tournament, medals were only awarded to the eleven players on the pitch at the end of the final and the match for third place. 

• In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.

• Since 2006, winners of the competition are also awarded the right to wear the FIFA Champions Badge, up until the time at which the winner of the next competition is decided.

• 40 out of 54 active CAF members who belong to FIFA have never qualify for the FIFA World Cup tournament since it's inception in 1930.

• African Teams Debuts at the FIFA World Cup tournament:
• Egypt (1934)
• Morocco (1970)
• DR Congo [Zaire] (1974)
• Tunisia (1978)
• Algeria, Cameroon (1982)
• Nigeria (1994)
• South Africa (1998)
• Senegal (2002)
• Ghana, Angola, Ivory Coast, Togo (2006)
• Cape Verde (2026)

• Records and statistics:

• Six (6) players share the record for playing in the most FIFA World Cups; Antonio Carbajal (Mexico) [1950 - 1966], Rafael Márquez (Mexico) [2002 - 2018], Andrés Guardado (Mexico) [2006 - 2022], Lothar Matthäus (Germany) [1982 - 1998], Lionel Messi (Argentina) [2006 - 2022]; and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) [2006 - 2022] all played in five tournaments, with Ronaldo also being the first and only player to score in five tournaments. 

• Messi has played the most FIFA World Cup matches overall, with 26 appearances. Brazil's Djalma Santos (1954 - 1962), West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer (1966 - 1974), and Germany's Philipp Lahm (2006 - 2014) are the only players to be named to three FIFA World Cup All-Star Teams.

• Miroslav Klose of Germany (2002 - 2014) is the all-time top scorer at the FIFA World Cup with 16 goals. He broke Ronaldo of Brazil's record of 15 goals (1998 - 2006) during the 2014 semi-final match against Brazil. West Germany's Gerd Müller (1970 - 1974) is third, with 14 goals. The fourth-placed goalscorer, France's Just Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals scored in a single FIFA World Cup; all his 13 goals were scored in the 1958 tournament.

• Pelé is the only person to win the FIFA World Cup three (3) times as a player. In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals. This made Brazil's Pelé the only player to have won three World Cup winners' medals (1958, 1962, and 1970, although he did not play in the 1962 final due to injury), with 20 other players who have won two winners' medals.

• Seven (7) players have collected all three types of FIFA World Cup medals (winners', runners-up, and third-place); five players were from West Germany's squad of 1966 - 1974: Franz Beckenbauer, Jürgen Grabowski, Horst-Dieter Höttges, Sepp Maier, and Wolfgang Overath (1966 - 1974), Italy's Franco Baresi (1982, 1990, 1994) and the most recent has been Miroslav Klose of Germany (2002 - 2014) with four consecutive medals.

• Brazil's Mário Zagallo, West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer and France's Didier Deschamps are the only people to date to win the FIFA World Cup as both player and head coach. Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach. Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach, and Deschamps repeated the feat in 2018, after having won in 1998 as captain.

•  Italy's Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two FIFA World Cups (1934 and 1938). All World Cup-winning head coaches were natives of the country they coached to victory.

• Among the national teams, Brazil has played the most FIFA World Cup matches (114), Germany appeared in the most finals (8), semi-finals (13), and quarter-finals (16), while Brazil has appeared in the most World Cups (22), has the most wins (76) and has scored the most goals (237).

• Brazil and Germany have played each other twice in the FIFA World Cup, in the 2002 final and in the 2014 semi-final.