2026 FIFA World Cup: six months out!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 2026 FIFA World Cup: six months out!

    The final draw ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup was held in Washington on Friday.

    Two important firsts: 1) expansion from 32 to 48 teams; 2) three hosting nations (Canada, USA, Mexico).

    This will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup; the first was in Uruguay in 1930; two possible editions (1942 and 1946) were lost due to World War II.


  • #2
    Two exceptional books on the history of the World Cup are:
    1) FIFA Museum, Switzerland, published 'History of the World Cup', third edition, complete through the 2022 tournament in Qatar. There is a chapter on each tournament, along with an extensive introduction, which explains the path, from the early 1900s, through the early Olympic tournaments, to the founding of the World Cup tournament. Lots of great photos, plenty of statistics, and enough controversy to satisfy many!
    2) 'The Power and the Glory', by Jonathan Wilson, first USA edition October 2025. Mr. Wilson, one of the premier soccer writers in the world today, writes a chapter on each tournament, and delves very deeply, and in an expert fashion, into the cultural and political situations around each of the host nations, when they were preparing to stage the events. This is the extraordinary feature of the work. An enormous amount of that material was new to me. He also covers the soccer itself in sufficient depth. A volume which must surely rank with the very best sports books ever written!!
    I recommend either or both of these books to the fan who wishes to know much more about a sport which is about to become a central part of Canadian life within a few months!!

    Comment

    Working...
    X