{"id":447,"date":"2026-06-20T12:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=447"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:35:47","slug":"10-reasons-why-the-world-cup-is-the-greatest-sporting-event-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=447","title":{"rendered":"10 reasons why the World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Most major sporting events do not live up to their names \u2014 literally, at least.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Major League Baseball\u2019s World Series apparently envisions a world that only includes the US and Canada. The National Football League\u2019s Super Bowl is only rarely super, as those of us who watched February\u2019s 29-13 snoozefest between the Seahawks and Patriots experienced in real time. (A record FIVE field goals!) The Olympics, despite the Greek etymology of the name, do not take place in or around the ancient Greek shrine of Olympia. And the NBA Finals \u2014 I guess yes, they are the last games, though it seems like no one told the San Antonio Spurs that.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=445\">A big new test of Zohran Mamdani\u2019s influence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But the World Cup (sorry, the <em>FIFA <\/em>World Cup, as the soccer\u2019s international body repeatedly insists on us calling it) truly is <em>the<\/em> global sporting event, eclipsing all others. An estimated 5 billion people watched at least some of the 2022 World Cup, and with an even larger field of countries, the 2026 tournament underway now in the US, Canada, and Mexico is primed to be even bigger. And unlike nearly every other major sport tournament \u2014 and despite the rivers of red tape and bureaucracy and politics the whole event comes wrapped in \u2014 the World Cup is guaranteed not to disappoint.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Let\u2019s count the reasons why:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>1) A tie can count as a nation\u2019s greatest-ever sporting achievement<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>When World Cup debutantes Cape Verde \u2014 population 529,600 \u2014 tied tournament favorite Spain with a 0-0 draw in Atlanta on June 15, fans of the tiny West African nation must have felt like they had won the entire thing. And then two days later, the Democratic Republic of Congo \u2014 one of the poorest countries in the world, currently embroiled in both a deadly civil war and a major Ebola outbreak \u2014 somehow deadlocked with fifth-ranked Portugal and its too-handsome star Cristiano Ronaldo 1-1. With results like this even American fans might learn to love ties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Speaking of Americans\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>2) We might actually be good!<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The main host nation kicked off its World Cup campaign with a 4-1 drubbing of Paraguay, which might be the single most impressive moment in US tournament history since the Americans \u201cbeat\u201d England 0-0 in 2022. (Yes, technically a draw, and yes, absolutely a victory.) With its own Golden Generation of stars like Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie, the Yanks might actually be dangerous this time around.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>3) But it also doesn\u2019t matter<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A big reason why the World Cup is so great is that it gives everyone an excuse to indulge in the most benign forms of nationalism. (Well, the Turks might take it a bit far.) But true fans are there to applaud greatness no matter the color of the kit, especially as the tournament progresses and the pool of competitors gets narrower and more elite. For generational superstars like Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi, who netted a hat trick at age 38 in defending champion Argentina\u2019s opening match, the World Cup is but a stage, and we are all witnesses to greatness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>4) National stereotypes can be fun<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>I happened to be taking a 5:27 am train from New York to Boston last Friday, and was mildly surprised to see a quarter of the passengers wearing what appeared to be kilts. It was Scotland\u2019s \u201cTartan Army,\u201d on the way to Beantown to watch their beloved national side and party while doing it. That might have been in reverse order: One Boston bar said it ran out of beer altogether by Sunday night, selling three times what it usually does on St. Patrick\u2019s Day. (Perhaps it\u2019s a good thing that Ireland didn\u2019t make the 2026 tournament \u2014 otherwise we might have a national crisis on our hands.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Japanese fans, meanwhile, stayed behind and cleaned up after themselves following their side\u2019s opening match in Dallas on June 14. They\u2019ve done it at every World Cup match since 1998, and they even managed to convince NFL quarterback Jameis Winston to help out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>5) It\u2019s truly global, all the way down to the players<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The World Cup may be a contest of nations, but the players themselves show just how liquid borders have become. Nearly a quarter of the 1,248 players at this year\u2019s tournament were born in a country other than the one they\u2019re playing for, up from under 9 percent as recently as 2006. In the case of Cura\u00e7ao, the smallest-ever nation in the World Cup, 25 of its 26 players were born abroad, while Morocco became the first ever side with an entirely foreign-born starting 11.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=443\">Feel like a late bloomer? You\u2019re not alone.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>6) Foreign fans are falling in love with the US. Really.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Being the host of a World Cup means the opportunity to show off to the rest of the world what\u2019s best about your nation. And in the US, that apparently means\u2026ranch dressing. And Waffle Houses. And gas stations roughly the size of Luxembourg. Is it possible that these viral videos of wide-eyed European tourists enjoying the best of middle America are an elaborate psyop? Maybe \u2014 but if so, they\u2019re awfully impressive. Just remember that the TSA only allows 3.4 ounces of ranch dressing in your carry-on home, or you may experience a less hospitable side of the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>7) The history is amazing<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>This is the 23rd men\u2019s World Cup, and in a little under a hundred years of existence, the tournament has racked up some incredible moments:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>8) Sometimes you can lose and still win<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Ask knowledgeable soccer fans what the greatest team in World Cup history is, and first they\u2019ll say, \u201cIt\u2019s football, not soccer, you idiot.\u201d And then they might name a team that never even lifted the trophy: the 1974 Netherlands side. The team\u2019s \u201cTotal Football\u201d style of play abandoned fixed positions, requiring every player to be able to spread out and attack relentlessly. The result was Technicolor against the black-and-white of every other team. Netherlands lost to West Germany in the final, but there\u2019s no doubt which side won the style war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>9) Not even the worst sporting body in the world can spoil things<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, is hands-down the worst international sporting body in the world. Which is saying a lot in a world that includes the International Olympic Committee. How bad is FIFA? Let\u2019s count the ways:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>So yeah, FIFA is about as bad as it gets. And I haven\u2019t even gotten into the many, many bad things the Trump administration did in the lead-up to the tournament. And yet, from the moment of the first kickoff in Mexico City, none of that seems to matter. Not even FIFA can kill the buzz that is the World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2>10) We still have four weeks to go<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Most championship games are done in a day (unless it\u2019s cricket). Even the Olympics or Wimbledon are only a fortnight. But the World Cup lasts more than a month, some five weeks when nearly every day has something to watch. And we\u2019ve only just begun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=441\">Why LA\u2019s mayor doesn\u2019t have much power<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><span>See More<!-- -->:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Culture<\/li>\n<li>FIFA World Cup<\/li>\n<li>Future Perfect<\/li>\n<li>Good News<\/li>\n<li>Sports<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 World Cup is bigger, messier, and more joyful than ever. Here\u2019s why even FIFA, politics, and corruption can\u2019t kill its magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>10 reasons why the World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth - American Living Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanlivingreport.com\/?p=447\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 reasons why the World Cup is the greatest sporting event on Earth - American Living Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2026 World Cup is bigger, messier, and more joyful than ever. 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