The World Cup is the world’s biggest stage.

Once every four years, nations and their athletes are competing for the ultimate glory.

The 2026 World Cup will be one of the biggest, with the USA, Canada, and Mexico co-hosting this tournament from June 11 to July 19. Even now, we can hear talk of it at AISB, with students and teachers alike eagerly anticipating its start, making travel plans, buying jerseys and flags.

Here, we’ll explore how the World Cup has had an impact on the world in terms of economy and culture. In a future article by Bite journalists, we will gather stories of the AISB community who plan on attending and watching the upcoming Cup

How Host Countries Spend Billions on Preparing for the World Cup

The World Cup is one of the most popular events in the world, and has billions of dollars pumped into it in preparation for the tournament. Tourism increases greatly during and after the events of the tournament. 

During the 2022 Qatar World Cup, there was a reported 200-300% increase in tourism when compared to their usual numbers, and a 2-3% increase since then.

For smaller and less-famous countries like Qatar, an increase like that creates lots of economic growth and activity. Hotels receive immense profits, Restaurants see new visitors, and thousands more airplane tickets are bought. Because of the large potential for economic growth the World Cup holds, host countries invest billions of dollars into the preparation.

Michael Ferrito, a writer from the nonprofit organization SnoQap, states, “Qatar spent $220 billion prepping its cities and facilities to host the tournament, amounting to about 10% of its $180 billion GDP spent yearly in preparation to host.”

However, these improvements aren’t always great for the country long-term. Firstly, the funding needed to prepare for the cup uses tax dollars and takes away funding from other local projects in the area, perhaps slowing or halting their progress. Also, these new jobs created are usually temporary and are not stable, and a lot of low-cost housing is destroyed and displaced, leading to larger unemployment and homelessness rates afterward.

In addition, the cost demands created by FIFA are so large that sometimes the costs of developing the tournament are higher than the profits, which makes hosting the tournament extremely risky for developing economies like Brazil in 2014 and Mexico in 1986.

Ferrito, the writer for SnoQap, claims “the $15 billion investment by the Brazilian Government into the World Cup ended up generating very little return, and their economic crisis continued to worsen through the 2010s.”

A World Connected Through Football: The World Cup’s Effect on Culture

Many people worldwide live and breathe football, and this is reflected in the lasting effects football, and more specifically, the World Cup, has on the culture of many countries across the globe.

On average, about 191 million live viewers watched the World Cup in 2022 across the 64-match tournament, and the tournament final received 517 million live viewers. By comparison, only about 150 million live viewers watched the Super Bowl, the biggest game in American sports, in 2023.

The World Cup is one of the very few events that can bring people together from all over the world. It works to unite and unify people of different cultures for about a month, all celebrating the cultural phenomenon known as football.

Because of all these different countries and cultures congregating in such a small area, the sharing of cultural food, language, and habits can be exchanged, providing a cultural hub for tourists.

A fascinating instance of this occurring was when the Moroccan National team went all the way to the semifinals in the latest World Cup. This was the furthest an African nation has gone in the World Cup, and fans of other countries within Africa banded together to cheer for the Moroccan national team, a unique instance that shows this cultural unity.

However, this mish-mash of different cultures can highlight long-standing rivalries on the field and in the streets, leading to unsportsmanlike conduct and often violence. A rather extreme example was in 1969, when the nations of Honduras and El Salvador broke out into war because of the events of the prior World Cup.

Enjoyed this article and wish to contribute your thoughts? The Bite is currently working on a second feature article and podcast interviewing football fans about their plans for watching the upcoming World Cup 2026. Please reach out to grade 10 student Matei V. by completing THIS SURVEY.