The sheer scale of data being recorded at this summer’s World Cup is unprecedented. FIFA, the tournament organiser, will track around 150 million data points per match. Inside the ball alone, sensors monitoring IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units) will log 500 movements per second to trace the ball’s motion. If that sounds excessive, Patrick Lucey can … Read more
The city of Bergen, Norway, shook on the night of June 22–23, not because there was an earthquake or an unknown geological phenomenon. But because the Norwegian national team scored a goal during the 2026 World Cup. This curious phenomenon was reported by a team of researchers from the University of Bergen, who found that … Read more
You got a World Cup ticket. It arrived in your inbox with a QR code, professional branding, and a confirmation email that looked like the real thing. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. For years, spotting a scam was relatively simple. A suspicious email address, broken English, or an obvious typo were often enough to raise suspicion. But … Read more
An average visitor is expected to spend around $5,400 in the US—far above the $720-$2,500 visitors to Qatar spent in 2022. Transport at this year’s tournament is fundamentally different from that of the one-city tournament in Qatar, or in Russia in 2018, which provided free public transportation and an additional 500 trains to help people … Read more
For the first time in World Cup history, eight Arab nations have qualified for this year’s tournament, including Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Jordan—double the number of teams that qualified for Qatar in 2022. Yet, the tournament is taking place at an unprecedented moment of heightened geopolitical tension. The US-Israel war … Read more
Iran’s national soccer team has made its 2026 World Cup debut amid a tumultuous backdrop: an abrupt and tentative ceasefire after months of war, an extraordinary set-up in Mexico after the US prevented the team from residing in-country between matches, and political uncertainty that has now expanded to the international stage. But for many Iranians, … Read more
In the days leading up to the 2026 World Cup, the streamer IShowSpeed—one of the most watched people on the planet, who occasionally moonlights as a rapper—released the music video “World Cup (Champions),” a song about flexing national pride where he mentions all 48 teams. As with everything the 21-year-old born Darren Watkins Jr. does, … Read more
Extreme heat will be one of the biggest challenges for players and fans during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to an analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), around 25 percent of the 104 matches of the tournament could be played under temperatures that exceed the recommended thermal safety limits. The study points out … Read more
We need one more thing—how about Newton’s second law? This says the acceleration depends on the net force (Fnet) and the mass (m) of an object. It’s usually written as Fnet = m × a, but we can rearrange it like this: a = Fnet/m. Combining this with our gravitational force, we get something pretty … Read more
Influencers covering the 2026 World Cup in the United States will not be able to create content for monetization on social media without a work visa, according to a joint statement issued by Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security. The move could affect FIFA’s broadcasting strategy, which includes agreements with multiple … Read more