“It is nearly here. It feels like the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America has been in the planning stages for centuries, such is all the drama that has already taken place before a ball has been kicked. But it is upon us. It would be too much to say the controversies about ticket prices, visas, extortionate train fares and literal wars will fade away once it gets started on June 11, but we will at least have some football to watch alongside them. The 48 teams that have qualified for the tournament all go into it with different priorities and different levels of expectation. Here, we have ranked all 48 from best to worst, as things stand — or rather, we’ve re-ranked them, making adjustments from the last time we undertook this endeavour in April, when all the qualifiers were confirmed, to take into account managerial changes, key injuries and any other factors that might have impacted those teams. Read on, and tell us where you think we’ve gone wrong. …”
NYT/ATH
2026 World Cup Power Rankings: Every Team Ranked From 48 to 1
“Ready for this summer’s soccer smorgasbord that will be the 2026 FIFA World Cup? You better be because you know I am. I’m ready for 48 teams from around the globe to take part in what will be an epic party spread across three nations, including the United States. But let’s be real. There are teams that are better than others. Some will have a legit shot at winning it all. And some will just enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So now it’s time to rank all 48 teams. And remember, these are my power rankings. If you don’t like them, you can get your own. …”
FOX Sports (Video)
“When an estimated 400 million people tuned in to the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany at Wembley, many of them watching a game live on television for the first time, it changed the way we remember football. Before the 1954 tournament, World Cups weren’t televised at all. If you wanted to know how teams played, you bought a newspaper the next day and read a column about it by some cigar-chomping sportswriter in a three-piece suit. Now fans could follow along for themselves in fuzzy black and white: And here comes Hurst, he’s got — some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over… It is now! …”
With Norway competing in its first World Cup in nearly 30 years, the 73rd annual Norwegian Day Parade in Bay Ridge was unusually lively.
Scissors Kick 