In this issue
All World Cups are unique, from ambition to bid to execution. The first triple staging with the expanded field of 48 teams and 1 04 matches was appropriate to a central host which boasts of being biggest and best. Biggest World Cup, certainly. But best? Demonstrably not.
Football memory will cherish only a handful of matches amid the inevitable diminution of quality sliced into 23-minute slices by the advert-stuffed, momentum-busting hydration breaks.
Nevertheless, in football no dreams are greater than competing in and winning the World Cup. The ultimate achievement is granted to very few, as Didier Deschamps told his French winners in 20 18: “Whatever your career now, you will always be world champions and no-one can ever take that away from you.”
In this issue of World Soccer, you’ll find the complete story of the 2026 World Cup – every game, every goal, every player, the Team of the Tournament and tactical analysis.
Contents
World Cup 2026 review
4 In pictures
10 Keir Radnedge: Tournament overview
13 Goals we’d like to see again
14 Tim Vickery: Lionel Messi’s World Cup story
18 Players of the Tournament
20 Team-by-team analysis
74 Henry Winter: Jude Bellingham – England’s next captain
Plus…5 things we learned
76 Jonathan Wilson: Deschamps bows out betraying his principles
77 The World Cup In Numbers
World Cup 2026: The Complete Record
Group stage
34 Group A
36 Group B
38 Group C
40 Group D
42 Group E
44 Group F
46 Group G
48 Group H
50 Group I
52 Group J
54 Group K
56 Group L
Knockout phase
58 Round of 32
66 Round of 1 6
70 Quarter-finals
72 Semi-finals
73 Third place play-off
73 Final
World Service
80 South America Libertadores/Sudamericana
82 North America Leagues Cup
84 Oceania OFC Champions League
86 Obituaries
87 Wales European Under-19 Euros
88-89 Moves/Summer transfers
96 Plus Results, Tables, Fixtures
