Stories & analysis
The first 48-team World Cup, told: the champions, the farewells, the shocks and the verdict on football's biggest experiment.
Baby GOAT vs The GOAT
On a humid New Jersey night, Lamine Yamal’s Spain outlasted Lionel Messi’s Argentina in extra time — and the torch, at last, changed hands.
Read the story →La Roja, again — and this time by suffocation
Spain won the 2026 World Cup the hard way and the beautiful way at once: total control of the ball, and a back line that conceded exactly one goal in seven matches.
Mbappé takes the crown Messi couldn’t keep
Kylian Mbappé finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 10 goals — and in the process overtook Lionel Messi as the all-time leading World Cup scorer.
Africa’s World Cup: nine of ten, and Morocco again
A record nine of the ten African teams reached the Round of 32, four of them for the first time — and Morocco carried the flag to the quarterfinals.
Three hosts, three Round-of-16 exits
The United States, Mexico and Canada all reached the knockouts on home soil — and all three were gone by the Round of 16.
The nights that shook the World Cup
Brazil dumped out by Norway, Germany by Paraguay, and a ten-goal bronze final — the games that defined an unforgettable, unpredictable summer.
The old guard takes its bow
Cristiano Ronaldo exited in the Round of 16 and Lionel Messi in the Final — two decades of dominance quietly, finally, drawing to a close.
48 teams, 104 matches, one very big experiment
The first 48-team World Cup was bigger than any before it — and, from record crowds to first-time nations, it mostly made the case for itself.