标签：#soccer

The video assistant referee system, or VAR, has led to some controversial calls at the 2026 World Cup. Here’s why.

A recent study tracked hundreds of soccer fans until their favorite team reached the final of a tournament. Their stress levels skyrocketed, and their heart rates jumped too.

An image of Portugal forward Pedro Neto’s cleats at the World Cup has reignited a practice among some soccer players: modifying their cleats to relieve heel discomfort.

Norwegian striker Erling Haaland isn’t just a footballer anymore. He’s become an internet character perpetuated by fans and AI.

Fans’ euphoric reactions to the Mexican national team’s recent victory in the 2026 World Cup caused a series of unusual vibrations that were detected by seismic warning systems.

Penalty kicks are already proving critical to big wins at this year’s World Cup. But the advantage in penalty kicks has more to do with psychological effects than who kicks first.

The question My son was on the sofa with his iPad, poking at the live "Predict the Bracket" game — the whole 2026 World Cup knockout tree on one screen, every slot already filled with the crowd's favourite for that match. Tap a match, see who most people think goes through, watch the picks flow all the way up to a predicted champion. He frowned at it. "Daddy, how do they know which team plays which team? The teams aren't even decided yet." He'd caught something real. The little cards sitting in those slots were only predictions — the crowd's best hunch — but the shape underneath them, who-plays-who and where, was already locked in. Months before a single match kicks off. Fair question. The 2026 World Cup has 48 teams in 12 groups (A through L). The top two of every group go through — that's 24 teams. Then, to round it up to a nice bracket of 32, they also take the 8 best third-placed teams . Twelve groups, but only eight of their third-place teams get a golden ticket. "So you don't know which eight until the very end," he said. "But the bracket's already sitting right there on the screen." "Right." "That's cheating." It isn't cheating. It's one of the prettiest little bits of planning in all of sport, and by the end of the afternoon he understood it better than most adults do. We did it with the dining chairs. The setup, first Before the chairs, my son needed to know where these kids even come from. So we did the boring-but-important part first. A football group is a handful of teams who all play each other. When it's done, the best go forward, the worst go home, and — this is the bit that matters — there's a kid right on the line: the best of the rest , neither safely through nor clearly out. That borderline kid is the star of this whole story. Call them a wandering kid . To learn the trick, let's make the groups nice and small: two groups, A and B, three kids in each — six kids total. In each group the top kid goes straight through to the next round, the bottom ki

Qatar has become the place where FIFA experiments with the next generation of football technology. The results are already visible across this year’s World Cup.

This year, FIFA is providing an AI agent that any team can use. Is it enough to level the playing field or will future winners be determined by which team can afford the best tools?

The biggest World Cup ever is pushing fans, players, and host cities to their limits—and experts say this is only the beginning.

The 2026 World Cup promises a global celebration. Many Arab fans may find themselves locked out.

Soccer officials already rely on cameras to see who’s offside and who sent the ball out of bounds. But during this World Cup, refs will use digital twins of each player to view plays from every angle.

Travel bans and other visa issues are creating problems for World Cup participants even before the whistle blows.

Venues hosting the 2026 World Cup must meet high standards to obtain environmental certifications, but FIFA also requires that they use natural grass, which is water-intensive to maintain.

Referees for the 2026 World Cup will be wearing cameras positioned at their temples, allowing TV audiences to see a live view of the pitch from a vantage point they never have before.

The Argentine national team will be Google’s test bench and technological showcase during the World Cup.

The activewear giant has used chemical recycling to make jersey for 16 teams competing in the tournament. But the technique is unlikely to help solve fashion’s waste issue.