The countdown is on for the richest World Cup ever, amid logistical challenges and geopolitical tensions

The 2026 World Cup kicks off without Italia, which is absent for the third consecutive time, in a tournament involving three host nations and 48 teams

by Dario Ceccarelli

10 June 2026

Una veduta aerea dello stadio di Città del Messico, a Città del Messico, in Messico, il 3 giugno 2026. Lo stadio ospiterà la partita inaugurale dei Mondiali FIFA 2026 tra Messico e Sudafrica l'11 giugno. EPA/TOMAS PEREZ EPA

7' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

7' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

It still seems strange to us that this Thursday, 11 June, amidst so many other dramatic and complicated events, the 23rd FIFA World Cup is kicking off. Without Italia. Or perhaps not; we’ve got used to it, just like with all the things we don’t like: the first time you notice it, but by the third time you’d rather not think about it anymore.

Even the regrets, following the shock of the rejection that lasted three days, have faded. Now, those left without World Cup summers are no longer just teenagers. While it is true that we have missed the last three editions (2018–2022–2026), we also fared poorly at the 2014 and 2010 World Cups, being knocked out in both cases during the first phase, the group stage. In short, it has been since 2006—that is, for twenty years, ever since the skies over Berlin turned blue—that we have been absent from the Great Football Spectacle.

We live on memories, interviews and regrets. We watch Grosso’s final penalty on TV – the one that secured our victory over France – and it feels like a different world. Players like Pirlo, Del Piero, Buffon, even Materazzi, seem to belong not just to another generation, but to another life, when there were no social media, smartphones or artificial intelligence was something still far off in the future, like man on Mars or the Higgs boson.

And yet, even without us, the World Cup goes on. In fact, it’s getting bigger. This ‘American’ World Cup, taking place across Mexico, Canada and the United States, features no fewer than 48 teams, with a total of 104 matches and 1,248 players selected. A huge, bloated number, typical of our times, where every event simply has to get bigger and bigger. Just think that at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the one won by Bearzot’s Italia, there were 24 teams – half the number today. And before that, from 1934 to 1978, there were only sixteen. Different times, we know. But now we’re verging on madness. If we scroll through the list of participants, we find unlikely teams such as Cape Verde, Panama, Curaçao, Ghana, New Zealand, Jordan, Haiti, Uzbekistan, and so on.

It’s quite something to think that Cape Verde and Panama are in the line-up but not Italia, a country that has won four World Cups and finished in the top four on eight occasions. But this is globalised football, baby, as Gianni Infantino, FIFA president and close friend of Donald Trump, would say. He pushed very hard to organise this Super Event where almost everyone seems to have got in, except Italia. For the record, Infantino’s mother is from Brescia and his father from Reggio Calabria. Anyway, best not to be too cheeky: if Bosnia and Macedonia left us out in the cold, perhaps we would have gone down to Ghana and Curaçao too, a Dutch Caribbean island with 156,000 inhabitants, roughly the same as Perugia.

It’s obvious. We’re like those old aristocrats, up to their ears in debt, living in crumbling old mansions, who sneer at those who, having come from humble beginnings, have nevertheless managed to make a name for themselves. It is no coincidence that this is also the World Cup of migrants; almost 300 of the participants play for a national team other than that of the country where they were born. This fact gives pause for thought regarding the decline of Italian football, where the only migrants to have become more or less key players in the national team have been Balotelli (who was soon sidelined, however) and, more recently with more impressive results, Kean.

Kick-off: Mexico v South Africa

But let’s get back to the World Cup: it kicks off this Thursday, 11 June, with Mexico v South Africa in Mexico City (9 pm Italian time) and will conclude on Sunday, 19 July, with the final at New Jersey Stadium, also at 9 pm. One of the challenges of this tournament will be the match times and temperatures, which vary greatly from one venue to another. Some may recall the sweltering heat of the 1994 World Cup in the USA, the one where we lost the final to Brazil on penalties, with Baggio in tears after blasting the ball over the bar. Once again, there is a risk of the competition being distorted. In Mexico, the time difference is eight hours, meaning matches are played at lunchtime – a time of day that is ill-suited to football matches in the summer...

There is no shortage of political problems, starting with the fact – and this is by no means a minor one – that the three organising countries, with Trump always coming up with something new, are not exactly on the best of terms. And then there is Iran, at war with the United States since the end of February, in training camp in Mexico, but forced to make whirlwind return trips to play their three group matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. These are gruelling journeys under conditions of great physical and psychological strain for easily imaginable security reasons.

Il Mondiale di Trump

A recurring dilemma, whenever Italia isn’t in the tournament, is deciding which team to support. Obviously, it’s not compulsory, but anyone who follows football is, by nature, inclined to side with one team or the other. There are those, like many Inter fans, who choose Argentina because of Lautaro, the top scorer in our league. But it’s not that straightforward. Sometimes you support the underdogs who are likeable, or the surprise teams (there’s always one in every World Cup), or a particular player you’re fond of. Everyone has their favourite.

Italian coaches in the competition

Our good fortune, if you can call it that, is that we have a highly decorated manager such as Carlo Ancelotti on the Brazil bench, one of the most popular teams in terms of talent and entertainment value. Ancelotti, as well as being a brilliant manager, is universally loved for his friendly nature and ability to adapt to any situation. In Brazil, partly because he speaks Portuguese, he is held in very high regard. There were some doubts at the start, especially given his background in the Italian school of football, which tends to favour defence over attack. But Carletto, who knows his stuff and has already extended his contract until 2030, has warmed up the atmosphere by bringing in Neymar as well. Sidelined by a minor injury, he is likely to be replaced in the opening match against Morocco by Igor Thiago, a towering figure who has already scored 24 goals for Brentford. Ancelotti, however, has a dream: to lead the Seleção to win the Xexa, their sixth title. It won’t be easy. The favourites are Spain, France and England. Then come Portugal, Brazil, Argentina and Germany. There are no certainties, no clear favourites, say all the pundits. We’ll see. Usually the best team comes through in the end, after a few early stumbles.

Still on the subject of football support, there are two other Italian managers who might prove popular. One is Vincenzo Montella, 51, a former striker nicknamed “Aereoplanino” for the way he celebrates after scoring a goal, who will lead Turkey after guiding them to the World Cup. They had been absent since 2002, when they surprisingly finished third. Another of our coaches is Fabio Cannavaro. The former Ballon d’Or winner will be on the bench for Uzbekistan, another debutant in the Cup. Cannavaro himself, speaking of the excessive tension, fell victim to extremely strict visa checks involving lengthy searches with drug-sniffing dogs on his personal luggage. Naturally, this is because Uzbekistan is on Trump’s list of ‘unwelcome’ countries. An even worse fate befell the Somali referee Omar Artan, voted Africa’s best referee, who was denied entry after a gruelling 16-hour interrogation. The irony is that Artan was even in possession of a diplomatic visa. With Trump, who changes friends and enemies from one day to the next, we’re in for all sorts of surprises. A World Cup within the World Cup.

Another hot topic is the astronomical ticket prices. On average, attending a match will be five times more expensive than at the last tournament in Qatar. For the final on 19 July, prices reach as high as $5,000. It is no surprise that there are still many unsold tickets. As with the allocation of seats, this is a problem that has been seen in previous editions. However, in this climate of political chaos, the situation is even more complicated and a source of tension.

The star players we’re expecting

Thank goodness that, at the World Cup, it’s always about the football in the end. And above all, the players – the great stars – who, as always, are eagerly awaited. The old guard, such as Ronaldo (41), Modric (40) and Leo Messi (38), stand in contrast to the new generation of Yamal (18), Doué (21) and Nico Paz (21). The star of stars, however, is the Spaniard Lamine Yamal, with 43 million followers on Instagram. At his first World Cup, the Barcelona forward (24 goals in the last league season) is the epitome of Generation Z football stars. His valuation – 290 million – is actually an abstraction, a pure arithmetic calculation. Who can afford such a figure? But it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, considering that our own Marco Balestra, 21, Atalanta’s right winger, is already worth 50 million. Yamal is at least already a phenomenon, both on the pitch and in the media, but what about Balestra?

“Money it’s a gas”. Pink Floyd sang it in 1973, but FIFA is singing it now too, aiming to make over 9 billion from this World Cup. In 2006, by way of comparison, when Italia won it, revenues stood at around 2.5 billion. It is the World Cup of the rich, but also of great inequality. A reflection of the times. Whilst France tops the table in terms of the market value of its players (1.5 billion), Jordan brings up the rear with 19 million euros. In this case, even if the Gospel says so, it is very unlikely that the last shall be first.