World Cup 2026 A–Z: Falklands, Infantino and the politics behind the tournament

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The World Cup has always been about more than soccer.

Every four years, the global sporting extravaganza becomes a stage on which governments project power, politicians clamor for photo opportunities and old rivalries discover new life. North America’s first World Cup since 1994 was no different — only bigger.

The 48-team tournament brought a Viking invasion of Miami, diplomatic skirmishes over the Falkland Islands, Trump-era political intrigue, Gulf money and one FIFA president seemingly determined to be everything everywhere all at once. It did also produce some outstanding and tense soccer.

Here’s POLITICO’s full A-to-Z review of the tournament.

A is for Absent

Italy again failed to qualify, setting off a massive political outcry in Rome , which involved senior allies of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni trying to gain control of the soccer federation. They ultimately failed, but the episode underscored just how far Italian soccer has fallen since winning the tournament in 2006. Other politically notable absentees: Russia and China.

B is for Bygones

23 years after the U.S. invasion that left hundreds of thousands of people dead, Iraq qualified for the North American World Cup. The team struggled, but Iraqi fans that POLITICO spoke to in Massachusetts were happy to be there for the party. Those vibes were sky high at the Boston Stadium fanzone before the match against Norway, where the DJ yelled, “Let me hear you in the house from Eye-raq!”

C is for Cape Verde

The island minnows were the biggest surprise of the tournament, drawing with Spain and then pushing Argentina to extra time in a thrilling knockout match. Heroic goalkeeper Vozinha’s mom was able to come and watch after the U.S. State Department waived her eye-watering visa fees following Cape Verde’s opening match.

D is for Displeased

Early exits for Uruguay and Turkey both triggered a national outcry, but political recriminations went furthest in South Korea, where President Lee Jae Myung called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to probe the country’s failure to advance to the round of 32, one of the Asian powerhouse’s most disappointing World Cup campaigns in decades.

E is for Exploitation

Ticket prices and hotel costs left many fans whom our reporters met feeling fleeced. FIFA and the U.S. were a perfect commercial match with merchandise, stadium food and even car parking retailing for eye-watering prices. The governing body maintained throughout the tournament that it got ticket prices right, and said full stadiums were evidence of that.

F is for the Falklands

The 1982 war in the South Atlantic loomed over the semifinal game between England and Argentina, one of the great historic World Cup grudge matches. After their late victory, some Argentine players unfurled a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” — which translates to “The Falkland Islands are Argentine” — staking their claim to the British Overseas Territory. The incident has breathed new life into the issue , in both Buenos Aires and London, that will endure well beyond today’s final whistle.

G is for German inefficiency

Four-time champions Germany were dumped out in the first knockout round by Paraguay, an abject result that cost coach Julian Nagelsmann his job. The other top German manager in the tournament — Thomas Tuchel, in charge of England — then cost his side a place in the final, going all-out defense and making a series of bizarre substitutions against Argentina. For some German politicians, that ineptness provided a tap-in metaphor : “This national team plays the way this federal government governs: big on ambition, short on resolve,” in the words of Member of the European Parliament Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.

H is for Half-time show

Sunday featured the first ever half-time show at a World Cup final. Music superstars Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and K-Pop band BTS took the stage, pausing the game for 27 minutes — longer than the customary 15-minute interval — and reigniting the debate over whether soccer should borrow more from American sports. Polling conducted for POLITICO showed that European spectators were much more skeptical of the concept than American fans.

I is for the Invisible Man

Donald Trump turned up at one match : the final. While several Cabinet secretaries appeared in stadiums rooting for the U.S. squad, the president stayed away. Trump wasn’t even a particularly big presence on social media, though did turn up for a bombastic appearance at a FIFA final-weekend cocktail party at Trump Tower. In between, there was one, single dramatic incident: Trump’s intervention to help get a suspension of America’s star player overturned.

J is for ‘Johnny’ Infantino

The president of FIFA was everywhere, racking up thousands of miles on a private jet and attending scores of matches. His cozy relationship with Trump triggered grumbling from European lawmakers — and the International Olympic Committee received a complaint alleging he had repeatedly breached rules on political neutrality. Despite the criticism, Infantino appears to have locked down another term in charge of FIFA when its members vote for president next spring.

K is for Kansas

Quinton Lucas, the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, went all in on the World Cup , partying with bouncing Dutch fans before a group stage match, then scrapping with a Financial Times journalist on X. Across the river in Lawrence, Kansas, residents took the Algerian team — which set up its training base camp in the city — to heart, as one of the more surprising tournament bonds developed. “I almost shed a tear,” said the Algerian coach Vladimir Petković about the relationship.

L is for Lionel Messi

When the Argentinian superstar visited the White House earlier this year with Major League Soccer champions Inter Miami, Trump surveyed attendees about who they thought was soccer’s greatest-ever player: Pelé or Messi. The answer remains inconclusive after Messi signed off his World Cup career with defeat in Sunday’s final. Messi started the tournament with three goals against Algeria, and inspired Argentina through subsequent rounds — including dramatic comeback wins against Egypt and England.

M is for Monarchy

Spanish King Felipe attended Sunday’s World Cup final, along with his whole family. Felipe had also used an earlier trip, for Spain’s encounter with Uruguay in Guadalajara, to attempt a thaw of frosty relations with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. And he wasn’t the only royal to attend matches in North America . Monarchs from Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands figured more prominently in the VVIP sections than those countries’ elected politicians.

N is for North Africa

Morocco and Egypt proved that North African soccer is steadily improving, with their runs into the knockout phases. Egypt likely would have beaten Argentina, without an intervention from the Video Assistant Referee; while Morocco ran into a French buzzsaw in the quarterfinals. Rabat has particularly large soccer ambitions, and will co-host the 2030 tournament — and is currently antagonizing Spain by pushing to host the final.

O is for Oil

The Gulf nations were one of the biggest disappointments in the tournament, with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia ejected in the group stage. So far, there is limited evidence that Saudi investment on domestic soccer has lifted the country’s national team, while Qatar appears to have regressed since hosting in 2022. Aramco, the Saudi state-owned energy giant, was the only Gulf winner: ubiquitous on advertising boards inside World Cup stadiums, as part of its megabucks partnership with FIFA.

P is for Powerade

Hydration breaks (sponsored by Powerade!) in each half of games infuriated fans, as FIFA turned soccer into a four-quarter sport. Deafening boos rang out around stadiums as matches, even those taking place in air-conditioned arenas, were halted for the players to have a drink. FIFA, for whom Powerade-maker Coca-Cola is a long-standing corporate partner, insisted it wasn’t profiting from the breaks.

Q is for Qualification

This was the first World Cup with 48 teams, and by the end Infantino was mulling an increase to 64 teams for 2030. A jump from 48 to 64 would not massively increase the tournament’s footprint while engineering a more natural group stage-to-knockout bracket. The move could help put more small countries — and not-quite-countries like Curaçao, the Dutch holding that made its World Cup début this year — on the map.

R is for Racism

A senator in Asunción launched a diatribe at French striker Kylian Mbappé after France’s bad-tempered victory over Paraguay in the Last 16, calling him a “brute” and questioning his intelligence and nationality. Her remarks were widely condemned, and the United Nations said “language that dehumanizes people because of their race or ethnic origin has no place in sport or public discourse.” Days later, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy triggered outrage after describing France as a “very high-level squad. Of course, without Frenchmen,” alluding to the African and Caribbean origins of some of the players.

S is for Spain

The European champions are now the world champions. Built on a miserly defense, Spain suffocated opponents with their relentless control of the ball and passing throughout the tournament. It will now host the 2030 World Cup, and has won five international men’s tournaments in the last 18 years. A sporting superpower, even if Trump has suggested expelling the country from NATO.

T is for Tartan Army

Scotland might have embarrassed itself with a series of inept performances on the field, but its fans — the Tartan Army — lit up the tournament off the pitch . In Boston, they drank bars dry, put traffic cones on the heads of countless statues and took over the historic Fenway Park, before charming Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida during their friendly invasion of Miami.

U is for the United Arab Emirates

The other Gulf petromonarchy wasn’t even at the World Cup, but that didn’t stop it playing an outsized role in proceedings. Mohammad Al Kamali, a former member of the UAE’s parliament serving as chairman of FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, unilaterally made the controversial decision to defer American striker Folarin Balogun’s red-card ban, multiple news organizations reported. The ruling, which appeared to bypass the 18-member committee, raised questions about FIFA’s judicial independence.

V is for Vikings

Norway blazed a trail to the quarterfinals, backed by thousands of red-jersey-wearing supporters who mimicked Viking raiders with their now-iconic rowing celebration. Norway’s sport minister even joined in at Miami’s South Beach.

W is for War

Iran came within millimeters of progression to the second round, until a narrow refereeing decision went against them . Friction between the team, FIFA and the Trump administration overshadowed their campaign, with the players and staff under tight controls entering the U.S., as tensions climbed between Washington and Tehran — and culminated with new rounds of bombing while the tournament was still going on.

X is for X

Elon Musk’s social media platform was the tournament’s unofficial VAR room. Every controversial decision generated millions of posts, clips, conspiracy theories and immediate fury. Also memes. You will likely see Messi’s sarcastic nod in the semifinals for years, maybe decades, to come.

Y is for Yellow

Incoming Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella, a pro-Trump hard-liner, strode the campaign trail decked in Colombia’s brilliant yellow national jersey. He edged out a leftist challenger in mid-June, just in time for Colombian soccer fans to reflect on the shirt’s double meaning as a political symbol as their team became the only one to play matches across all three host countries.

Z is for Zinedine Zidane

France fell at the semifinal stage, despite a vast array of attacking talent that blitzed the early rounds of the competition. Coach Didier Deschamps now heads for the exit after 14 years in charge, and one World Cup triumph. That sets the stage for legendary French star Zinedine Zidane — whose role leading the team to glory as a player in 1998 made him a lightning rod for the country’s then-ascendant far right — to take the reins as manager.