2026, and Beyond — The Expanding World Cup and the Future of Nations

Our long journey, which began in 1930 in a Uruguayan stadium celebrating a century of independence, has at last reached the present — this very moment. In June 2026, as this piece goes out into the world, the World Cup is about to open as a festival unlike any tournament that came before. Spanning three countries, gathering 48 national teams, with more than 100 matches played out across 39 days. From a tiny desert nation to the supercontinent of North America — the stage has pushed its very scale into another dimension.

The first ever three-nation co-hosting, and 48 teams

The 2026 tournament carries any number of “firsts” on its shoulders.

First, the hosting spans three countries — the United States, Canada, and Mexico. A World Cup that had, as a rule, been held by a single nation now crosses three borders for the first time. The number of participating nations, too, expanded in one leap from the long-standing 32 to 48 teams. The number of matches ballooned from 64 to 104, with crowds pouring into 16 host cities. With the increase in places, countries setting foot in a finals for the very first time appeared — among them Cape Verde and Jordan.

Driving this expansion was the very organization we have followed through the previous chapters: FIFA. Increase the number of participating nations, and more countries can take part — while broadcasting rights, sponsorship income, and gate receipts all expand. The cause of “dreams for more nations” and the reality of “more money” are inseparably bound together inside that number, 48.

North America, a commercial machine of staggering scale

Why North America? One answer lies in this region’s overwhelming “commercial power.”

Vast stadiums, a mature sports-business infrastructure, one of the world’s largest advertising and broadcasting markets. The United States is a land that has honed sport into “show business” to its very limit. Even in this country, where soccer has long been hidden in the shadow of the “big four” sports, the moment a World Cup arrives, that commercial machine generates revenue of a staggering scale. For FIFA, hosting in North America was the finest possible choice for maximizing income.

The road to commercialization was laid in the era of Havelange and Adidas we saw in the sixth chapter, and accelerated by the television revolution of the fourth. North America 2026 sits on the far end of that line. More than half a century since the day the world thrilled to Mexico 1970’s satellite color broadcast, the World Cup has drawn near to its finished form as a planet-spanning “business in motion.”

As a mirror of geopolitics

And in every era, the World Cup has reflected the prevailing dynamics of the world.

That the 2026 tournament is co-hosted by three nations is itself a microcosm of North American politics. Borders, movement, visas, security — a tournament straddling three countries becomes a stage that tests the very relationships between states. Meanwhile, the one after it, in 2034, has already been settled on Saudi Arabia. North America’s commercial power and the Gulf’s resource money: between these two poles, the vast festival of the World Cup swings back and forth like a pendulum.

The “desert tournament” of Chapter 9 and this chapter’s “North American tournament.” Seemingly opposites, these two in fact tell the same story: football is drawn toward those who hold the greatest power in the world — those who hold the money, who command the market, who command the resources. It is not a thing to be welcomed without reservation, but it is a reality of our age that will not vanish however we avert our eyes.

The mirror reflecting our own time

From Montevideo in 1930 to North America in 2026. What we have traced through this series was not the history of the technique of kicking a ball. It was the story of what nations entrusted to football, how money changed it, and how politics exploited it — a sweeping drama of human desire and prestige spanning 96 years.

Used for a dictator’s propaganda, supporting a defeated nation’s recovery, becoming a military junta’s festival, drawing in vast capital, drenched in corruption, and yet continuing to send people across the world into rapture. The World Cup may be one of the most contradiction-filled inventions humanity has ever produced. There are few other stages where filth and brilliance coexist so inseparably.

The next time you cheer on your national team in front of the television, or the next time you meet the words “bid,” “broadcasting rights,” “human rights,” or “host nation” in the news — remember that behind them lies this 96-year story, quietly outstretched. Today’s kickoff did not begin out of nowhere. Uruguay’s pride, the Miracle of Bern, Maradona’s Hand of God, FIFA’s corruption, the oil money of the desert — the World Cup as it is now exists as the continuation of all of it.

The mirror will go on reflecting the times. And the eye to read that mirror — you already hold it in your hands.

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— The World Cup: A Century of Power · End —

From the fervor of Uruguay in 1930 to the expansion of North America in 2026. Thank you, truly, for staying with us to the very end of this long, long journey where nation, money, and politics intersect. The next time you watch a World Cup match, if this story has made the way you see the game just a little bit deeper — for the writer, there could be no greater joy.