By Gopal Ram Tripathi
FOOTBALL’s BIGGEST FESTIVAL will soon be taking over the world as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CANADA, and MEXICO are looking forward to hosting this year's FIFA World Cup. FIFA World Cup is the football sport’s biggest event, where over 32 countries participate in an intense tournament for over a month. That being said, the FIFA World Cup takes place every four years, and this time the hosts are ready to welcome the countries around the globe from June 11, 2026, and it will conclude by July 19, 2026.
This year's FIFA World Cup will have some new changes that the fans would like to know more about while they enjoy their favourite teams playing. Firstly, the number of teams participating in the tournament, as announced by the FIFA Council, that FIFA World Cup 2026 will comprise 48 teams in total. This was approved back in 2023; this idea was more of a political decision than a sporting one. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was on it alongside France’s Legend Michel Platini, who had proposed this idea back in 2013 when he was UEFA President. This decision seems to be a great move by the FIFA Council, but the decision will allow the players to be engaged in more games. With more games come major player performance concerns.
The World Cup should be the culmination of a dream, but the reality is that it will be the survival of the fittest. It’s not right.Maheta Molango, CEO of the Professional Footballers’ Association
We can believe that it can be true, after all these years, players have gone through many games in comparison to the previous years. The fear is general and concerning for the teams participating in the tournament.
The subject of concern doesn’t stop there; the countries hosting this year’s tournament have an issue with the climate and weather, and it's very alarming for the players, especially. The tournament opened in the Summer, and over the past days, teams have already been participating in the friendlies. A Marketing Strategy or a Trial before the real tournament begins? The results have already been there, where European teams have been significantly affected by the weather and climate, during the FIFA Club World Cup Tournament, the effects were visible.
FIFA World Cup 2026 brings us more changes to the rules. FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) have already introduced new strict laws, and they mainly concern the behavioural and disciplinary acts on the field by players. Here are a few rules that have been changed for this year’s FIFA tournament:
Covering of mouths is strictly punishable; players caught with the act will be awarded a straight red card.
Pitch Protests by any player with an official decision will result in a red card.
5-Second Restart Countdown, for every throw-ins and goal-kicks, referee will use hand gestures for a countdown of 5 seconds. If the timer hits zero, possession switches to the other team.
10-Second Substitutions will allow the players to leave the pitch within 10 seconds. If they stall, the substitute has to wait for a minute on the sideline as a penalty.
VAR Powers Expanded, with this, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) can intervene to fix corners and fouls that were miscalculated.
New Reusable Bottle Ban: This is especially for the fans; they cannot bring hard, reusable water bottles into stadiums, instead are limited to one soft, disposable plastic bottle up to 500 ml.
There are people in the football community who are opposing the idea, and on the other hand, some just think that it was needed for a long time in this sport.
FIFA World Cup 2026 has found its way to improve the technological issues that have often generated a lot of controversy over the past years. The additions of new, groundbreaking artificial intelligence and sensor technologies.
Beginning with the official host ball, known as the “Trionda” Ball, which is the first ball with 4 panels, the official match ball contains a battery- yes, it’s rechargeable. The 500Hz motion sensor will help the officials to track speed, spin, and touch-points that would transmit the exact data to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to resolve the offside and out-of-bounds plays. We all remember the Japan and Spain match at the 2022 World Cup, when Mitoma’s pass caused a huge official confusion that later resulted in their favor. The Goal-line technology became more of a loophole in sports.
The major issue with the close offside flag calls will be resolved with the more enhanced semi-automated offside technology, which was designed to spot offsides in real-time, but only when a player is greater than 50 cm offside. But it becomes more precise now. There will be an audio alert passed through the official’s earpiece to make things quicker for them.
The players will be scanned for 3D avatars to improve the quality of the semi-automated offside replays to show the right decisions, and also the models for line of sight judgments by the VAR.
Stabilised ref body camera’: Lenovo has introduced this new upgrade to reduce the shaking caused by movement during refereeing, which will help broadcasters, coaches, and staff members review the players.
FIFA is introducing Football AI Pro to make data and analytics accessible to the entire team. Previously, FIFA sent every team a report of 50-60 pages after every game. The AI will allow the governing bodies to offer a more real-time experience so that the analysts can request the information they want. Nations can access before or after the games to level the playing field between the opponents; they won’t be allowed to do that during the games.
2026 unites the nations once again with the FIFA World Cup Tournament, with the USA, Canada, and Mexico hosting the games, making it the first time three nations have shared the hosting duties. This year will bring together 48 teams for the first time, with the Round of 32 knockout stage being new to the format. 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup takes place within a few days, where the nations have already announced their squads and are ready to represent their nation the biggest sporting stage.
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