Starting Thursday, the United States, Canada and Mexico will host 104 games over the next 39 days for one of the largest sporting events in the world: the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Following its expansion from 32 to 48 teams, this tournament marks the largest World Cup in history, making it unlike any of the other 22 since 1930. With the University of Florida being about a five-hour drive from host cities Miami and Atlanta, students are prepared and excited for what the 23rd World Cup has in store.
“It’s massive,” said Julia Rucker, a biosystems engineering senior at UF. “You see countries from every continent actually. There’s very high demand for this type of thing.”
At the center of the World Cup are defending champions Argentina, led by Lionel Messi. Since his move to Inter Miami CF in June 2023, Messi has dominated the United States’ top-tier league: Major League Soccer.
Messi’s Argentina heads into the tournament No. 1 in FIFA’s latest men’s soccer ranking.
For Rucker, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is president of UF’s Argentinian Student Association, one thing that makes this World Cup special is it will be Messi’s last with Argentina.
“It’s honestly so sad,” the 21-year-old said. “Most of my childhood he was the [soccer] player for Argentina, so obviously, it's going to be really bittersweet watching him go.”
Interning this summer in St. Louis, Missouri, Rucker said her father is going to visit her before they drive three hours to watch Argentina’s opening group-stage game against Algeria in Kansas City on Tuesday.
After that match, the defending champions will travel to Dallas to face Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27 to close out group-stage action. If Argentina finishes first in their group, its round of 32 match would be in Miami, where Rucker said she grew up and has a large Argentine-American population.
While Argentina looks to defend its title, the 10 countries from Africa, which is the most the tournament has seen from the continent, look to create history as there has yet to be a winner outside of Europe or South America.
In the 2022 World Cup, Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semifinals of the tournament, beating Spain and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal along the way. With this run as an example, Ebenezer Adu Siaw, a health science junior and public relations director for the African Student Association at UF (ASA), said that there’s more hope than ever for an African team to win the World Cup and show the world how much African soccer has grown.
“For some of these teams, winning the World Cup isn’t just an unrealistic goal,” he said. “It’s an actual reality they can make happen.”
The 20-year-old said he will be rooting for Ghana at this World Cup, with both of his parents from capital cities Accra and Kumasi.
Despite having to face European giants Croatia, who reached the semifinals in the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, and England, Adu Siaw said he remains confident in Ghana’s chances of making it out of the group stage.
“Going into the tournament, they’re definitely underdogs,” he said. “They could shock a lot of people.”
In 2022, Ghana faced two-time champion Uruguay and Portugal in the group stage, which Adu Siaw said will provide valuable experience for this year’s team in reaching the round of 32. Moreover, the Gainesville native said that the passion of African fans and players is often more pronounced than in other countries and could also be a factor in helping Ghana make a run in the tournament.
With a full slate of games ahead, Adu Siaw said ASA will host World Cup watch parties, starting with Senegal’s matchup against France on Tuesday.
In Europe, the tournament’s expansion from 32 to 48 teams has allowed many smaller countries to cement their place on the world’s largest stage.
For example, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which beat Wales and then four-time world champions Italy in the European playoff qualifiers, is making just its second appearance at the World Cup since debuting in 2014.
For Aydin Kadribasic, a psychology, behavioral and cognitive science junior, Bosnia’s appearance in the tournament was celebrated by his family, including his parents, who moved to the United States from the capital city Sarajevo during the Bosnian War: a conflict from 1992 to 1995 following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Kadribasic said he received video calls from his family back in Bosnia for three straight hours after his team's victory over Italy to qualify for the World Cup. Tens of thousands of people were out in the streets in the capital, he said. Back at UF, the 20-year-old watched the playoff game with his six roommates.
“Everything just kind of went blank,” he said, “I just started running outside, screaming. I couldn’t believe it because we’re punching so high above our level.”
Back in the US, Kadribasic, a Coconut Creek, Florida, native, said he and 50 other Bosnians in South Florida are set to have a watch party for the team’s first group-stage game against Canada on Friday in Toronto.
For Bosnia’s other two group-stage games against Switzerland in Los Angeles on June 18 and Qatar in Seattle on June 24, Kadribasic said he secured tickets and will be going with some of his family, including two uncles, one of whom lives in France but was born in Bosnia. He added that these two games will replace his family’s annual trip to Bosnia to visit relatives.
“We really don't have too much expectation for the tournament because we know we’ve already exceeded expectations, punched above our weights,” he said. “It’s just exciting that we’re all going to be together.”
While some, like Kadribasic, see the World Cup as an opportunity to connect with their roots and family, others see it as an opportunity to show their passion for the sport by educating others.
For example, Joshua Mangalam, a fifth-year computer science student and event coordinator for the Florida Soccer Fans Club at UF, is using his TikTok and YouTube channels to record videos explaining soccer terminology, tactics and players to educate people on what they need to know before the tournament starts.
Mangalam added that he has used comparisons between soccer players and major American athletes to help his friends understand what some of the better players are like. For example, he compared France’s Kylian Mbappé to NFL wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase.
“Mbappé is argued as one of the best players on the planet, and Ja'Marr Chase is probably one of the best wide receivers in the NFL,” he said. “That’s like the perfect comparison I’d do for a guy like Mbappé.”
However, Mangalam said high ticket prices could prevent casual fans from enjoying the true soccer experience. He added that many expensive sports lack popularity because they limit common people from attending.
In a typical European soccer game, tickets are affordable, allowing locals and common people to attend, which helps create an exciting atmosphere, Mangalam said. However, if the World Cup maintains these steep prices, it would create a more corporate atmosphere.
“Chances are the guy that has a lot of money is probably not going to be a hardcore fan of the sport, and they’re also probably not going to be someone that’s nonstop chanting, nonstop going rowdy and actually bringing energy into the game,” he said. “The energy that we know fans bring to the sport might not be there the same way this time.”
Whether this energy will be present or not will be on display in the tournament's inaugural match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. This matchup is a rematch of the inaugural 2010 World Cup match, which ended 1-1 in Johannesburg.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is a summer 2026 sports enterprise reporter and a third-year journalism sports & media major with a media, management and production minor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams
