Was the World Cup 2026 a success?, By Reuben Abati

Spain lifting the 2026 World Cup (PHOTO CREDIT: FIFA World Cup on X) The straight-forward, honest and correct answer to the question raised above is: Yes. Spain won at the end of the day on Sunday, 19 July, 1-0 against Argentina, defending champions since Qatar 2022, and that was the climax of a tournament that lasted for 39 days during which 104 matches were played, by 48 teams from six Federations, participating (for the first time in the World Cup finals), in three countries – Canada, Mexico and the United States in 16 host cities – 11 in the United States (Atlanta, Boston Dalla, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle; three cities in Mexico – Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, and two cities in Canada – Toronto and Vancouver. This was the longest, most expansive, indeed the most expensive tournament ever in the history of the World Cup, with tickets selling as high as $2,000 and over $10,000 on the day of the final match. Spain’s victory was very well deserved. Supporters of Argentina and, particularly, the team’s talisman, Lionel Messi, had hoped that Argentina would win the World Cup back-to-back, but that did not happen. Argentina actually failed to get one shot on target. Instead, Spain dominated the game from start to finish, with 20 shots and 12 on target, until Ferrand Torres scored the winning goal in the 106th minute. The tally could even have been higher were it not for Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, who was busy throughout until he got a shot that made the difference from Torres. It was a sad goal, but it was also perfectly made. It was a historic moment. Spain is the first nation ever to hold both the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup titles at the same time. It is also the first country to be the reigning men’s Champion of the World Championship, the European Championship and the Olympics Championship simultaneously. In addition, Spain won the Golden Ball in the final (Rodri), best young player (Pan Cubarsi) and the Best Goalkeeper with Golden Gloves (Unai Simon). The Spanish team conceded only one goal and scored 14 goals throughout the tournament. To be fair, Argentina could have been beaten by more than one goal. The best team won. Spain played throughout as a complete team, with possession and positional football to win their Second World Cup title. Argentina relied heavily on their goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, and Lionel Messi, easily the best player in the world who was reduced to tears at the end of what may well be, at 39, his last World Cup appearance. He will always be remembered as a legend of the tournament with 21 World Cup goals and clearly a first rank artist of the game at club, national and international levels, a genius and a master builder. But despite the hype that heralded the final match, it was not even the most exciting match of the tournament. In that category would be the match between Netherlands and Japan in Group F, which ended 2-2, Algeria vs Austria, 3- 3, and Belgium vs Senegal in the Round of 32 at 3-2. The Teranga Lions of Senegal almost defeated Belgium! Argentina vs Cabo Verde which ended 3-2. Cabo Verde, a country of 529,000 people, the smallest country at the World Cup, which does not even have a properly organised national team had a fairy tale run, with its 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha, who put up a memorable, remarkable performance. That was a match! Cabo Verdeans nearly disgraced Argentina. In the Round of 16, Norway knocked out Brazil 2-1 to get to the quarter finals for the first time. Almighty Brazil was thrown out. England defeated Mexico in the Round of 16, but the same England was so disappointing in the semi-final match against Argentina playing a needless defensive game after going ahead with a goal in the first half. They would later redeem their brand in the third-place play-off in which they defeated France. This was England’s best outing at the World Cup since 1966 when they won the trophy, and now a bronze medal that was considered not good enough, even if they won 6-4 against one of the best teams in the world in the 2026 tournament. There was also Argentina against Egypt, which Messi’s team won 3-2 in the Round of 16. Egypt felt cheated, so heartbroken, and had to complain about the officiating. On the whole, the World Cup 2026, in its expanded format projected the beautiful game so well, there is even now a lobby for further expansion to 64 teams in future editions. The continent of Africa got a record 10 slots, nine of the teams reached the knock-out stage, and African countries were no spectators as they gave a good account with the competent performances by Morocco and Egypt, which both made it to the Quarter finals, and the Round of 16, before being eliminated by France and Argentina respectively. DR Congo, appearing in the World Cup finals for a second time since 1974, drew against Portugal 1-1, defeated Uzbekistan, 3-1 and almost gave England a scare in the Round of 32, eventually losing 2-1. Our neighbour, Ghana, didn’t do too badly either, especially in their 0-0 match against England, and their 1–0 defeat of Panama. But the star team from Africa was Cabo Verde which recorded a draw against Spain, the eventual winners of the tournament, held Uruguay to a 2-2 draw, and again drew with Saudi Arabia and almost defeated Argentina! Cote D’Ivoire did well too. I will rather not talk about South Africa – those xenophobes – whose country should be busy answering questions at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Nigeria, which by the way did not qualify for the World Cup, was everywhere at the tournament but actually nowhere in particular. While 10 other African countries were competing with the rest of the world on the field of play, Nigeria was busy in the cheerleading corner through its artistes. Afro-beat artiste Odogwu Burna Boy sang and danced with waist-twisting Colombian sensation, Shakira at the opening in Mexico Stadium on 11 June, and at the interlude of the closing in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 19 July. Other Nigerian artistes – Rema, Davido and Ayra Starr – provided entertainment at other forums, while football was being played by capable nations. Nigeria was also a provider of talented footballers for other countries; a total of 15 players of Nigerian descent represented other countries at the World Cup. While this recognition of Nigerian talent and stardom is remarkable, Nigerians would rather have their country on the main stage at the World Cup but that was something we could not do. Having missed the last two World Cup finals (2022, 2018), Nigeria should work harder to make it to the next World Cup in 2030 and the time to start is now not yesterday. Other countries start the preparations for the next World Cup, the moment a particular one ends. Nigeria’s story is different. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFA) usually waits till the last minute for the qualifying games to begin before running helter-skelter to get a coach, a team and oftentimes, the players are demoralised by the usual lack of organisation and a sense of direction. The problem is that nobody ever learns from past mistakes in Nigeria’s House of Football. Meanwhile, there are very clear lessons to be learnt from the just concluded FIFA World Cup 2026 about the excitement that football attracts, the co-ordination and organisation by the world football body, FIFA, the high standards of the facilities in all the venues, and the quality of play showing off modern football as an advanced art and science. The weather was treacherous in many places: extreme, potentially dangerous weather with temperatures as high as 33C but in the end it was the world’s biggest sport that triumphed. The heat, humidity and poor air quality did not stop the fans from turning out in their numbers, an average of about 65,500 spectators per match and a record-breaking total of 6.81 million across the 104 matches. There were tender family moments that added colour to the tournament, the Viking row with which Norway left an even bigger impression off the field of play, the display of natural beauty in the stands and at the fan centres, and the spectacle of mothers, and WAGs travelling all the way to the tournament to see their loved ones in action. The mothers of Vozinha (Cabo Verde), Ismael Saibari (Morocco), Lamine Yamal (Spain) Nico Williams (Spain) celebrated special moments with their sons. Lamine Yamal was surrounded by family, especially his little brother, Keyne who was just as actively involved as his super star sibling. It was heartwarming also seeing Marc Cucurella sharing his World Cup glory with his wife and three children! The diversity at the World cup was projected not just by the ethnic mix of some of the national teams, but also by the individuality of some of the players – Nico Williams with Ghanaian parents playing for Spain, and Lamine Yamal with a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea. FIFA World Cup 2026 was played against the background of major geopolitical events: the 250th Independence anniversary of the United States, with President Donald Trump seeing it as part of his self-glorifying Freedom 250 personal project. He was at the final match of the World Cup, and when Spain won, and took the trophy and the medals, Trump lingered around for the celebrations until he was politely nudged off the spotlight. It was also typical of him to have inserted himself into the process when he got FIFA to suspend a red card that had been issued to an American player, one of those Nigerian exports, Folarin Balogun. There was also the on-going war in the Middle East between the United States/Israel and Iran. The Iran national team was treated as unwelcome guests in the United States. Immigration arrangements were marred by prejudice and discrimination. FIFA-grade referee from Somalia, Omar Artan was barred from entering the United States, despite having a valid travel visa. He would have been the first Somali to officiate at a World Cup. The national team of Senegal was subjected to humiliating security checks at the tarmac as they arrived. But by far the most embarrassing moment of the World Cup was the racism on display, especially the xenophobic abuse of Kylian Mbappe by Paraguayan Senator, Celeste Amarilla, who was incensed by France’s victory over Paraguay during the knock-out stage, and referred to Mbappe, the eventual Golden Boots winner and world record holder for the most goals at the World Cup, as a “colonized Cameroonian, who sucked on coconuts as a child and the most educated creatures he ever listened to were chimpanzees.” Mbappe responded by calling her a “a despicable woman, unworthy of her position.” The government of Paraguay distanced itself from Amarilla’s comments. The French Football Federation lodged a complaint. There was also the Argentina vs. England semi-final clash, which had all the undertones of a re-enactment of the unresolved tension of the 1982 Falklands war. After a tension-soaked adversarial match, which Argentina won 2-1, some of the Argentine players put up a banner, “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, turning the encounter into a political conflict, against FIFA’s established rules. FIFA is investigating. By a twist of irony, when Argentina lost the final match to Spain on Sunday, 19 July, only one song matched the occasion: “Don’t Cry For me, Argentina”, complete with pathos. All things considered, this was a successful World Cup, and the biggest beneficiaries are all the players and teams that made history, no surprise that the four teams that got to the finals are the FIFA-ranked top four men’s teams in the world – Spain, Argentina, France and England. Gianni Infantino, who has now been endorsed by 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations to be elected for a fourth term as FIFA president, despite his bootlicking, subservience, cozying up to US President Trump and, of course, the host nations – Canada, Mexico and the United States – who had brilliant days in the sun. Football is also mythical and one myth has again been confirmed – that the reigning Ballon d’Or winner never wins the World Cup, and so it has been this year as it was in the examples of France’s Ousmane Dembele (2026), Italy’s Gianni Rivera (1970), Netherland’s Johan Cruyff (1974) and Marco van Basten (1988, 1992), France’s Michel Platini (1986), Italy’s Roberto Baggio (1994), and Brazil’s Ronaldo (R9), (1998). FIFA World Cup 2026 was also a commercial success with a record-breaking total prize pot of $871 million, with the champions Spain, taking home $51 million, with gold rings for every member of the team, and the runners-up, Argentina – $34 million, and England in third place, $30 million. Every team also got something extra ($12.5 million). My oh my. That was a profitable enterprise. The money train now moves to Morocco, Spain and Portugal in 2030 as host countries, with a further expanded 64-team format, to mark the centenary of the World Cup. It will be a shame if Nigeria again fails to show up, not necessarily for the money, in 2030, but national pride, now so badly wounded. Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.