December 18 – On January 3, 2026, FIFA and Coca-Cola will send the World Cup trophy on a global meet-and-greet road show, and just like the Olympic flame, this tour is less about logistics and more about symbolism.
December 17 – Following a global outcry, FIFA has slashed a limited number of World Cup tickets for qualified team’s most loyal fans to $60. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) called it an “appeasement tactic”.
The $60 World Cup tickets will also apply to the World Cup final, the showpiece match at the MetLife Stadium that will conclude next summer’s supersized 48-team World Cup in North America. Previously, FIFA had set the price at $4,185.
December 17 – Nigeria has filed an official complaint to FIFA over Congo DR who they claim used between six and nine ineligible players in their 2026 qualifying campaign.
December 17 – The New York-New Jersey host committee on Wednesday unveiled plans for a 10,000-capacity World Cup fan zone inside the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, home to the US Open tennis tournament.
December 14 – Iran Football Federation president Mehdi Taj, speaking on state television, has issued a warning that some payers and staff may be denied entry to the US for the 2026 World Cup because they have served in the military.
Iran have been drawn into Group G with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand and will play two group games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
December 15 – After a week of global criticism from fan groups and media over the sky-high ticket prices set for fans of participating nations, FIFA has responded by not commenting on the price levels but pointing to the supply and demand economics of five million tickets being requested in the first 24 hours of the third sales phase for the 2026 World Cup.
December 12 – FIFA have revealed staggering ticket prices for national team supporters for the 2026 World Cup, prompting Football Supporters Europe (FSE) to call for an “immediate halt” to sales. Ticket prices are five times higher than at the last World Cup in Qatar.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) said it was “astonished” by the “extortionate ticket prices” that’ll affect the most dedicated fans. The fan group calculated that it would cost $6,900 for a fan to follow his team to the final.
December 12 – The Trump administration is finalising a proposal for visa applications to have to submit five years of social media history and email addresses they have used for the past 10 years, as well as additional information about themselves and their immediate family.
December 11 – The release of the 2026 World Cup match schedule has triggered an immediate surge in accommodation demand across host cities, with fresh data from short-term rental analytics platform AirDNA showing some of the sharpest booking spikes yet for the expanded tournament.
December 11 – If anyone still clings to the fantasy that the 2026 World Cup will be a festival for the everyday fan, hotel prices are rising faster than an Apollo rocket on the launch pad.
December 11 – Egypt and Iran want FIFA to step in and shut down the LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations planned around their group-stage match in Seattle during the 2026 World Cup.
December 10 – Match ticket prices for the World Cup took off like a rocket the moment the draw and schedule dropped, thanks to FIFA’s newest gift to world football, namely, dynamic pricing.
December 10 – Seattle’s local organisers for the 2026 World Cup are facing an unexpected complication after the tournament draw placed Egypt and Iran into the city’s designated ‘Pride Match’ – an event scheduled long before team assignments and entirely independent of FIFA branding.
December 9 – FIFA will include three-minute hydration breaks in each half of every World Cup match next summer regardless of the weather, in a move which essentially splits matches into four quarters akin to NBA and NFL games.
December 8 – Mexico will open the 2026 World Cup on June 11 in Mexico City against South Africa. The following day the USA will play Paraguay in Los Angeles and Canada will play Toronto in against the qualifiers from the European play-off between Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The groups and matches for the biggest ever 48-team World Cup were set at the group draw in the Kennedy Center in Washington DC on Friday and the unveiling of the match schedule in a made-for-TV show the following day.