World Cup 2026

[RedHand88]

FIFA exceeded revenue target by $4billion. A record.


The doom mongers emphatically wrong.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/18/fifa-record-15bn-world-cup-revenue?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Final was by far worst game I saw.

Of course it was. The talk of empty stadiums and ICE ruining it etc was completely absurd. People just stuck in an Internet bubble believing anything they read. Reports from anyone there was that they had the time of their lives. Look at the craic the Scots had.
End of the day, it was a world Cup in America (mostly). It was always going to be massive.

[WT4E]

Will Ireland make the Spain/Portugal World Cup?

[Look-Up!]

Bit of an underwhelming final as was to be expected. Spain deserved winners. Argentina could have hijacked it with their ultra negative approach but would have left a very sour taste for the purists.

Tournament over all was decent I suppose but like the final and American culture in general, promised a lot more. Spain came through the tougher side of the draw but there looked to be a serious lack of contender quality overall. No great Dutch, German or Brazil teams. Portugal very average. No maverick Eastern Europeans. Italy didn't even qualify for the 48. There was a serious dearth of maverick players and strikers in general. Just everyone going through a process of low risk no mistake football, play not to lose and hope to nick a goal. The way the game has gone it's the smart approach but hardly gets you on the edge of your seat. And less said about the HT show the better.

[marty34]

Bit of an underwhelming final as was to be expected. Spain deserved winners. Argentina could have hijacked it with their ultra negative approach but would have left a very sour taste for the purists.

Tournament over all was decent I suppose but like the final and American culture in general, promised a lot more. Spain came through the tougher side of the draw but there looked to be a serious lack of contender quality overall. No great Dutch, German or Brazil teams. Portugal very average. No maverick Eastern Europeans. Italy didn't even qualify for the 48. There was a serious dearth of maverick players and strikers in general. Just everyone going through a process of low risk no mistake football, play not to lose and hope to nick a goal. The way the game has gone it's the smart approach but hardly gets you on the edge of your seat. And less said about the HT show the better.

Agree with this 100%.

[quit yo jibbajabba]

Not much to add to that tbh

Unfortunately it's the way the game is going...

[Captain Scarlet]

Spain would never take the bait but I would love to see Otamendi and Romero kicked into Row Z, along with Paredes and that little scobe Enzo.

Argentina fans seem to enjoy rubbing it in the opposition faces more than the actual winning and I love seeing them lose. They have notions and think they are better than everyone else on the continent.

They will drift off now for the forseeable when you look at Messi and the overall age profile.

Spain on the other hand hand have a solid spine for a long time. Huijsen will be back in and that's their central defence sorted for a decade!

Nico Williams is 24, Yamal is a kid and then you have Pedri and Gavi too.

[Baile Brigín 2]

Will Ireland make the Spain/Portugal World Cup?

If it's 64 teams, yes. 48 likely.

[AustinPowers]

Will Ireland make the Spain/Portugal World Cup?

If it's 64 teams, yes. 48 likely.

I wouldn't be so  sure. Uefa will probably only get 3/4 more spots  for a 64 team tournament

[square_ball]

Bit of an underwhelming final as was to be expected. Spain deserved winners. Argentina could have hijacked it with their ultra negative approach but would have left a very sour taste for the purists.

Tournament over all was decent I suppose but like the final and American culture in general, promised a lot more. Spain came through the tougher side of the draw but there looked to be a serious lack of contender quality overall. No great Dutch, German or Brazil teams. Portugal very average. No maverick Eastern Europeans. Italy didn't even qualify for the 48. There was a serious dearth of maverick players and strikers in general. Just everyone going through a process of low risk no mistake football, play not to lose and hope to nick a goal. The way the game has gone it's the smart approach but hardly gets you on the edge of your seat. And less said about the HT show the better.

Careful. You'll have lads on here taking great offence at this telling you it was the best World Cup there has ever been and the football they have just watched for the last 5 weeks has been out of this world.

[An Watcher]

No, that was an average wc not helped by the yankie pricing and trump interfering.  I think ths is the way football is going though.  All about the money

[Silkyskillssunshinee]

No, that was an average wc not helped by the yankie pricing and trump interfering.  I think ths is the way football is going though.  All about the money

And then you see Morgan Rogers going for 120 million straight after this world cup where he wasn't even a starter. Soccer is probably at its lowest ebb in a while. Thank God for the GAA and our amateur national sport.

[imtommygunn]

And when he did start he was shit.

It was a better WC than I expected but then I wasn't expecting much. Cape Verde was a good story and then (possibly unfortunately) England staying in it longer creates more hype. Canada doing reasonably well would have been good too but for the fact their manager is such a dick.

What looked like Trump getting the US guy off his suspension was a big kick in the balls for it I thought.

[ClubScene13]

No, that was an average wc not helped by the yankie pricing and trump interfering.  I think ths is the way football is going though.  All about the money

And then you see Morgan Rogers going for 120 million straight after this world cup where he wasn't even a starter. Soccer is probably at its lowest ebb in a while. Thank God for the GAA and our amateur national sport.

Would tend to agree with this in general. Very soulless in the Premier League as well. When Man City can blow 120 million on Elliot Anderson in the face of these charges what are we doing. Tickets another farce.

I would prefer both codes in the GAA and NFL to soccer at the minute but it couldn't slip any further down than 4th I don't think.

Spain are brilliant and it is a credit to them how little defending they have to do as they always have the ball, but my God - their games are dreadful viewing. Not that they'll care too much

[rodney trotter]

There can be a lot of short term memory or receny bias when labelling it the best WC ever. It was a good tournament. 2018 and 22 were good tournaments too.

France 98 and 2006 were maybe better tournaments. The flair of Croatia with Davor Suker or Bergkamp shining for Holland.

[Armagh18]

Wasn't terrible, wasn't wonderful. The hydration breaks, half time show and general Americanisation of the whole thing was shite, not to mention the stink of Trump about the place and Infantino the corrupt little lapdog.

Leaving that aside, the football itself wasn't wonderful, France and Spain the only top teams there with Argentina dogging their way to the final without playing any wonderful football Messi aside. Capo Verde and Norway up until the England game were something different and good to get behind.

The other bigger nations are all at a low ebb, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Portugal all a shadow of their best teams, the less said about Brazil the better and none of the other South Americans were up to much.

Probably reflects a lack of real quality and entertainment across the board in soccer these days though