FIFA 2026 | A World Cup like no other

On June 11, the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City will host the kick-off of the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most-watched sporting tournament, whose winner will lift the cup 38 days later, after the final in New Jersey on July 19. That 2026 is the longest World Cup ever is only one of the things setting it apart from every edition since 1930.

The charts below explore a few other factors of this tournament, with the most matches ever (104) and the largest field yet, 48 countries. They include Curaçao, the Caribbean constituent country of the Netherlands, whose population of just 1.6 lakh is nearly twice the seating capacity of the Azteca.

The tournament is hosted by three countries, the United States, Canada and Mexico, which is a first, and has 16 venues, which is the second-highest after the 20 cities where matches happened in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

The chart below shows the the geographical spread. Hypothetically, a fan, wanting to watch at least one match in all 16 venues, should travel a minimum of 11,347 kms as the crow flies. This would have been just 70 kms in 2022, which happened in five cities in Qatar.

The chart below shows the population sizes of countries competing in the 2026 FIFA tournament. With a population of just 15 lakh, Curacao became the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup series, while the U.S. is the most populous nation to contest the tournament.

The event stands out for few notorious reasons, the sky-high ticket fares in particular. The chart shows the price range for each stage and country as of June 8, 2026, 6 p.m. IST. FIFA has been criticised for dynamic pricing, commissions on resales and lack of transparency.

With 104 matches, 2026 may breach the record of 172 goals scored in 2022, which had just 64 matches. Though the number of goals have increased over the years, the average goals scored per match has plateaued around 2.6 in recent years.

2026 could see a competition between 37-year-old Lionel Messi, for whom this is likely to be the last world cup, and 27-year-old Kylian Mbappe to set a new record for highest goal-scorer in world cups.

Eight from Asia — Japan, Iran, Jordan, South Korea (SK), Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq — are playing in 2026, the highest-ever. Asian countries recorded the highest wins in 2022 (11). SK reaching the semi-finals in 2002 remains the high watermark for an Asian country. South Korea reaching the semi-finals in 2002 remains the high watermark for an Asian country.

The chart shows the highest, lowest and average rankings in the 12 groups (Group A to L) of four members each. Shorter the line, the tighter the competition could be within the group. All groups will see six matches before the knockout stage.