“The World Cup is a true celebration of football and humanity.”

Oh, Peter Drury. We have come a long way since 2010.

Typically, the last few days before the World Cup are reserved for important debates. Who are the favourites? Is this finally Lionel Messi’s last dance? Can Cristiano Ronaldo somehow do it again? Which teen is going to be football’s next superstar? Which dark horse is going to ruin someone else’s summer?

Till 2026.

Many supporters seem almost worried about this time What can go wrong during the tournament Because they are about what can happen on the pitch.

Writing about the World Cup seems like a strange sentence.

For generations, this tournament has been football’s grand event that comes every four years and sends fans into a frenzy. This is usually the month when sport temporarily convinces us that nothing else is as important as 90 minutes and extra time.

Yet as the FIFA World Cup 2026 finally arrives, football’s biggest celebration brings a level of burden that few previous editions have had to deal with.

At its heart are geopolitical tensions that have increasingly come to the fore within the tournament. The ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran has further complicated regular World Cup preparations. Iran and other teams have had to deal with visa concernsLogistical uncertainty and even teams being forced to relocate their preparation venues, and questions about who can enter the host country and under what conditions have become a large part of the build-up.

And Iran is hardly alone.

From visa disputes and supporter travel bans to security concerns, ticket-pricing controversies and growing questions around access, much of the build-up has felt as if football is sharing tabloid space with other global politics news.

Yet football has a habit of fighting back.

When the lights go up at the Estadio Azteca and Mexico takes the field against South Africa after an opening ceremony featuring Alejandro Fernandez, Tyla, J Balvin and Ryan Castro, none of them will be able to score.

Football finally got the stage back.

Whether it can regain full conversation in the next month is simply a waiting game.

World Cup of Anarchy

Former England and Arsenal legend Ian Wright recently described the tournament as the “World Cup of Anarchy”. And debating that is a war in itself.

At the time of writing this, with huge sympathy for FIFA business chiefs, it was believed that this would be a safe World Cup.

The tournament was awarded to three countries with established infrastructure, huge stadiums and decades of experience hosting major sporting events. In comparison to some of the controversies surrounding Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, North America was considered to represent stability.

Instead, the build-up has left every football fan with a sour taste of hype.

Iran’s training plans were disrupted. Somali referee Omar Artan, who was set to become his country’s first official to officiate at a World Cup, was denied entry to the United States. Fans from many participating countries have publicly shared stories of visa complications despite having already spent significant amounts of money on flights, accommodation and tickets.

Then there is the matter of tickets.

For years, supporters have dreamed of experiencing the World Cup in North America. Many people immediately discovered that the dream came with a frightening bill. Dynamic pricing, rising accommodation costs, expensive transportation and a resale market that often looks different from reality have all contributed to frustration among travel advocates.

A strange paradox is also looming over the tournament. FIFA talks of record revenues and record attendances, yet thousands of tickets remain available for some group-stage fixtures just days before kick-off.

Not many people can argue that when it’s the World Cup, it’s an easy assumption that the football will still be great.

But there is no denying the fact that the road to this World Cup has been much worse than anyone expected.

What does the FIFA World Cup mean?

Perhaps that’s why it’s worth remembering what the World Cup often represents when football is at its most powerful.

In October 2005, Ivory Coast qualified for its first FIFA World Cup.

At the time, the country was divided by civil war.

Didier Drogba and his teammates could have easily celebrated qualification. Instead, they gathered inside a dressing room, looked directly at the television cameras and appealed for peace. The players dropped to their knees and requested fellow Ivorians to lay down their weapons.

It is one of the most extraordinary moments in sports history.

For a brief moment, football achieved what politicians had struggled for years to achieve.

The World Cup has always brought that unique potential.

That’s why people still remember where they were when Zinedine Zidane shone in 1998, when Anders Iniesta broke Dutch hearts in Johannesburg, when Mario Gatz took control of a nation-sized dream in Rio or when Lionel Messi finally perfected football in Qatar.

This tournament has always been more important than football.

Twenty-one years after Drogba used football as a tool of unity, the sport’s biggest event comes as it wrestles with negotiations about borders, visas, access and geopolitics.

The irony of shedding tears.

Will noise take over the World Cup?

Probably not.

Because football has spent decades proving that it has a superpower that very few things on Earth can match.

It distracts.

Soon, the conversation will move away from visas and ticket prices and back to Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Neymar, Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal and every other story that makes the World Cup impossible to resist.

Argentina arrived to defend their crown. Spain is a favorite of many people. France have enough attacking talent to scare anyone. Brazil believes Carlo Ancelotti can restore former glory. England are once again trying to convince themselves that this really could be that year.

Especially for Indian fans, the commitment required to follow this World Cup borders on the absurd. About 90 percent of the matches will start between midnight and sunrise. It screams how sleep schedules will collapse, followed by caffeine-fueled work hours.

Yet millions of people will do it anyway.

Tomorrow morning, offices across the country will be filled with people with dark circles under their eyes and huge smiles on their faces. Someone will be replaying some amazing goal or referee call.

And that’s why, despite all the noise surrounding this tournament, it would be foolish to win the debate against football once again.

FIFA World Cup 2026: All 12 groups

Along with the big chaos list, the definitive list for this World Cup has also become longer.

FIFA has expanded the 2026 tournament to 48 teams. The new format consists of 12 groups of four teams, replacing the familiar eight-group setup. From there, the top two sides and eight best third-placed teams in each group will advance to the newly introduced Round of 32, which will open the door to more countries, more knockout drama and, inevitably, some surprise runs.

* Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia
* Group B: Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland
* Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
* Group D: United States, Paraguay, Australia, Truckee
* Group E: Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
* Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
* Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
* Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
* Group I: France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway
* Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
* Group’s: Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia
* Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama

Where can fans watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup in India?

Fans in India can watch all 104 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Zee’s Unite8 Sports television channels, while live streaming will be available through the Zee5 app and website after the broadcaster secured the rights shortly before the tournament begins.

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