OPINION - How World Cup 2026 proved football has remarkable ability to cure all ills

The trophy safely on display at the Spanish FA headquarters, England’s wounds no longer so raw, and the annual football calendar now into its miniscule vacuum, you’re left to reflect on the past six weeks and ponder whether the 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and Mexico was a resounding success or an unmitigated flop.This one really could have gone either way. The expansion from 32 teams to 48 had the potential for greater drama but also the risk of suffocating, of making the World Cup the one thing it should never be: tedious. Would North America buy into soccer in a way we hadn’t seen at USA 1994? Would Trump’s World Cup feel like Trump’s World Cup? Would FIFA be well-behaved?We are in a global era when every stakeholder wants their own slice of the pie. FIFA has protected the