While you sat in your gardens, overheated and under stimulated, checking social media every 10 minutes for any tasty rumour of a West Ham transfer, a trial run for the 2026 World Cup was happening over in the US, with the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Did you watch it? If so, you’re one of 2.3 million Brits who watched in the peak viewership hours – most likely with a concubine of Chelsea supporters – my term for a plurality of Chelsea fans – and only 1.5 million US viewers. With 300 million of us in the US, this is a paltry performance for viewer attention, with gameshows like Celebrity Family Feud having twice the amount at 3.7 million. I must admit with 4.6 million viewership in the UK for the Women’s Euros, comparatively, you didn’t fancy the Club World Cup as adequate source of serotonin during these summer doldrums, or with great pride you supported England and have a growing interest in women’s football – Bravo! I did enjoy seeing the messages from my West Ham fam across the pond reacting to that perfect English set piece, and that Stuart Pearce-like, super penalty to grab the win and bring it home. While my own viewership was negligible because no West Ham players were involved and my MLS club – the Philadelphia Union – did not qualify (we made it to semifinals in 2022 to lose to LAFC and the Seattle Sounders – both featured in the tournament), I did almost take a road trip six hours away to the city of Atlanta to see Messi with his pink Inter Miami kit, play FC Porto. My friend is a Porto fan and doesn’t have a roadworthy vehicle. But my bitterness at having none of my club’s players there, and having to skip a day of work, won over, and I did not attend.
The Chelsea & Presidential Debacle
The biggest headlines in the US were not the change in tournament format with 32 teams instead of seven, or that it was hosted in the USA, but the spectacle of the US president celebrating with Chelsea. The fact that he stayed for the lifting of the trophy with the team, and that he took the trophy back to the White House with him. Chelsea not only had to get a replica made of their own trophy, they also had to edit the US president out of the photo, and edit they did. You couldn’t wish this mishap on a better team or a better president.
2026 World Cup: The Scorecard
What also stood out during this trial run of the US as a trilateral host for the 2026 World Cup, was the performance which shall be sorted into three categories: scores (wins); yellow cards (fouls or warnings for the future) and red cards (failures that could be painful). Some of these were improved mid-competition, some of these will be addressed in the future, and some will have to have major shifts in the political climate for the US to be a proper host.
Scores (The Wins)
As for scoring, the US had success at several stadiums in terms of service, enjoyment and game play – especially in Los Angeles (SoFi) and Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz); DAZ’N free global stream and body cams on refs were a big tech hit, and there were multi-agency coordinated efforts to prevent any large crowd problems that proved successful.
Yellow Cards (Warnings for the Future)
Yellow cards for the US contained an embarrassing ticket pricing problem with expected attendance originally putting tickets as high as $400 (300 pounds) drastically dropping to as low as $13 (10 pounds) when low turnout happened. There were also massive gaffs in transit, with overcrowded public transportation in larger cities, and in general the heat in the summer here, especially in Southern areas, caused several issues with the players – mandatory heat/water breaks helped but it should be something that’s watched or planned for in the future.
Red Cards (Painful Failures)
The kick you out of the match red cards present a more difficult challenge: travel bans currently exist on 19 countries including Iran who have qualified for the World Cup and teams like Haiti, Venezuela, Libya, Cuba, and Sudan may also qualify for the World Cup. While the US has fractious relationships with its counterpart hosts in Canada and Mexico, there will be tension and fear for traveling to the US from Canada, Mexico, or any South/Central American countries and attendance from the Hispanic and Latino population – who are the largest football fans in the US – due to ICE agents (immigration police) stationed outside of venues. Any presence of ICE agents at the World Cup could lead to civil unrest or reaction. Another dangerous misplay during the Club World Cup was the lack of protocol for offensive chants or incidents in crowds that weren’t meant with swift enough action. Specific and venue functional protocol for these yellow and red cards can be planned for and mitigated, but some of the greater existential worries like policing of peoples and travel can have a negative strain on the whole games designed to bring about world unity in sport, that are a harder political solve that won’t easily be fixed. For all these years of waiting for the World Cup to come to the US, personally I can’t think of a worse time politically for it to happen. With Qatar and Russia being the last two locations of the World Cup, I can’t help but think we’ve entered into the pantheon of World Cups being held in highly policed states, with questionable human rights violations being committed. I will still attend, and bear the colors of the red white and blue on my chest, in an ill-fitting jersey from the past, and I expect I will find some national pride in watching countrymen compete on our own soil in stadiums I know, but I worry for my fellow football fans. My question to you is, will you be attending the 2026 World Cup in the US? What venues will you be going to see, and will you make just the games or explore various cities and parts of the country that you’ve explored in your mind?
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