World Cup 2026 with few top matches makes audience 'surrender'

Many "top" teams are preparing for the World Cup.

Although this is the first World Cup with 48 teams, that record expansion has made many people realize a reality: when the number increases too quickly, the quality is hard to keep up. And from the hasty organization to the lackluster draw results, the 2026 World Cup creates a feeling of "full but empty", many but lacking highlights, flashy in scale but lacking real appeal on the field.

Diluted brackets and a draw full of holes

The 2026 World Cup draw should have been a highly anticipated event, as it will be the first World Cup to have three hosts and an unprecedented number of participating teams. But from the moment the groups were announced, the general feeling was one of dilution. FIFA held the draw while the full 48 teams had not yet been determined, especially while waiting for the results of the European and intercontinental play-offs. These were unsightly gaps in the draw, unprecedented in history.

The ceremony became sloppy, many even called it "just to get it over with", because it was clearly impossible to create solemnity when the last six slots were still empty, only labeled "European Playoff A", "Intercontinental Playoff Tournament 1"...

The World Cup is the biggest tournament on the planet, so this is an unfortunate image, showing the haste and haste in FIFA's management. All of this reduces the value of the draw, which is considered an emotional opening moment. Fans cannot be excited when the 6 groups have not yet known the faces of all 4 teams.

12 groups without a group of death.

But it’s not just the organization that makes the 2026 World Cup look so underwhelming. The draw results show a tournament with too many matches but very few interesting matchups. The groups with hosts Mexico, the United States and Canada all fall into the same category: there’s not really a “watchable” opponent. For the average viewer, there’s little reason to spend 90 minutes watching Mexico vs. South Africa or Canada vs. Qatar. Viewers want clashes between superstars, championship contenders, footballing nations with traditions and historical conflicts, but those are becoming rare.

A rare highlight match among a sea of bland matches

From dozens of groups, only a few matches are truly worthy of being called “early finals”. France vs Norway is a clash that the whole world will be watching, not because the two teams are evenly matched, but because of the confrontation between Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, two faces considered symbols of a new generation of football.

Spain vs Uruguay can create emotions thanks to contrasting histories and styles, England vs Croatia still has some echoes of the 2018 World Cup. That's it. The number of exciting matches can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

There will be a rain of goals like this again at the 2026 World Cup.

Meanwhile, matches that help audiences “turn off the TV” appear frequently: Curacao vs Ecuador, New Zealand vs Iran, Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia, Jordan vs Algeria, Austria vs Jordan, Ghana vs Panama… These are matches that, if there were no World Cup, perhaps no one would think would take place at the highest level.

And tragically, when the remaining six teams make it through the play-offs, the number of dull games will increase even more. People are looking at the World Cup schedule not to pick good games, but to try to figure out how many are worth watching, and the number is worryingly low.

There is a sad but realistic prediction: the 2026 World Cup group stage will be most attractive not for the quality of the players, but for the number of goals. FIFA and global football development director Arsene Wenger have repeatedly stressed that expanding the World Cup will bring “positive competition”, “attacking football”, “more scoring opportunities”.

But behind the rhetoric is a scenario similar to the one at the recent U17 World Cup, where Morocco beat New Caledonia 16-0 in a game no one really wants to remember. More goals doesn’t mean drama. Sometimes it’s just the image of an underdog suffering in despair.

The World Cup is a tournament of football elite, where each match carries historical value, tactics, emotions and excitement. But with 48 teams, matches of different levels become obvious. Viewers will see scores of 7-0, 8-1, 6-2 appear like… yawns from the audience. That is not top football, it is “overloaded” football. And that is the price when FIFA puts commercial interests above the real sporting experience.

The 2026 World Cup has yet to take place, but signs are that the group stage will leave no lasting memories, other than cold statistics. Perhaps it will only be in the knockout stages, when the big names meet, that the World Cup will come alive. But the question is: will fans have the patience to get through dozens of lackluster matches to get to that moment?

Diluted brackets and a draw full of holes

A rare highlight match among a sea of ​​bland matches

Comment (0)

A rare highlight match among a sea of bland matches