Everything You Need to Know About the World Cup
6/6/202637 min
The 2026 World Cup is about to descend on North America — spread across three countries, with 48 teams, and 104 games, and with billions of fans across the globe tuning in to watch the biggest sporting event on the planet.
Today, Tariq Panja, global soccer correspondent for The New York Times, breaks down everything you need to know about this year’s tournament — the arrival of historic first-timers, like Curaçao, the aging legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are making their final appearances, and the eye-watering ticket prices that are driving fans to financial extremes just to book a seat.
On Today’s Episode:
Tariq Panja, is a global sports correspondent for the New York Times.
Background Reading:
The World Cup’s Forgotten Team
World Cup or Bust: Going Into Debt, Sleeping 10 to a Room and Layovers for Days
Photo credit: Hannah Mckay/Reuters.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Natalie Kitroeff· Host0:19
From the New York Times, this is The Sunday Daily. I'm Natalie Kitroeff. We're coming to you a day early because tomorrow our colleagues at The Interview are gonna drop an episode with Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes. He was just fired from CBS this week after a blowup with the program's new executive producer. So that's tomorrow. On today's show, we're gonna talk about what's set to be the most watched sports event on the planet, the 2026 World Cup. There's been no shortage of controversy surrounding this tournament from exorbitant ticket prices to legal threats over those prices to the geopolitical tensions hanging over it all. But when the games begin this coming week, the focus will inevitably turn to the competition, which is bigger than ever this year. Billions of people will be watching from all over the globe, screaming at their televisions, parading in the streets, painting their faces, and beating drums in stadiums. So to get us all