The most culturally diverse men’s football World Cup in
history is taking place in the United States at a time when foreign nationals
feel less and less welcome in the country.
The 2026 competition kicks off on 11 June with
games in Canada, Mexico, and the US. The US will host by far the largest number
of matches, including the championship game. The 2026 cup is also hosting the
largest number of competing teams in history – 48.
Over its near century-long history, the competition has
remained the premier sporting event, attracting the largest number of
travellers. Some spend huge sums of personal savings to be at the matches to
cheer on their country and favourite teams.
Held every four years, the International Federation of
Association Football (Fifa) World Cup is a mega sporting event that serves as a
large avenue for cultural meetings and exchanges.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar attracted 1.4
million visitors to a country of slightly over 2 million people. The
number of travellers for the 2026 World Cup is expected to drop to 1.2
million due in part to the activities of the United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Still, the number remains
significant.
As a professor of intercultural communication, with
decades of research connecting culture to communication, I have found the World
Cup of particular interest. The number of global travellers to the World
Cup brings with it cultural communication exchanges that cannot be overstated.
Intercultural communication involves contact between people
with differing beliefs, values and norms. Cultural communication
theorists define such exchanges over a short period as the earliest stages
of acculturation, called the honeymoon stage.
It is an important stage of cultural encounter that helps
advance social comfort and learning. It eases anxiety in a different cultural
environment. These encounters go beyond the stadiums that will host games. They
include encounters in neighbourhood stores, transport systems, bars and hotels,
among others. Even for those watching remotely.
Matches on the field have the power to rise above the
politics of the day and bring cultural unity.
Football and cultural exchange
Cultural encounters at previous World Cups have led to the
spread of fan culture across the world. Think of the spread of the stadium wave
or use of the vuvuzela, a coloured plastic horn.
The wave involves sections of fans in a stadium standing up
by turns. This provides a spectacle that is believed to have spread to
most of the world after magnificent wave scenes at the 1986 World
Cup in Mexico.
At the 2010 World Cup, a South African fan tradition of
blowing the vuvuzela spread to the rest of the world. There were
vigorous attempts to clamp down on it because it was so noisy. But a few fans
have kept the tradition alive.
Cultural exchange remains a critical aspect of a World Cup.
The 2026 event will be no different. While most media reports focus on the
vivid exchanges like the wave and vuvuzela, there are others that happen at the
interpersonal and small group levels.
Those exchanges can be just as long lasting. They include
friendships, cultural learning, and the countering of cultural
loathing and stereotyping.
How will that work in the US?
The US is a strong location for such cultural exchange. The
country has historically accepted the largest number of migrants in
the world and the resulting interactions have led to indelible cultural impact
over generations. There is, for instance, a large Asian population in
the north-west parts of the country and a large Mexican population in the
south.
Yet, in 2026, the US has created an unwelcome situation for
potential travellers. ICE raids on suspected migrant populations have
dominated the news for months. This has an impact on numbers.
Hotel bookings are far below expectation in 11 US
host cities. One report claims there is a booking pace “below
expectations, trailing even a typical June or July without any major events”.
Human Rights Watch has urged Fifa to pressure the US government to
establish an “ICE Truce” during the competition.
An expensive trip
Fans hoping to attend the World Cup are also reportedly
concerned about ticket and transport prices. Recently, Fifa’s marketplace,
which serves as a resale platform, advertised “four tickets to the
final at a cost of $2.3 million each”.
While Fifa does not control pricing on its resale site, it
takes 15% of the purchase fee from the buyer and 15% from the seller. This
means Fifa would make US$690 000 if just one of the tickets sold at that price.
It’s a staggering sum for a football match.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino defended the high cost of
tickets by claiming it was the cost of doing business in the US market. Yet,
such prices are nearly five times higher than the last World Cup in
Qatar.
The New Jersey transport system eventually set train
roundtrip transport at US$105 after a public outcry after an initial plan to
increase the fare to US$150. The fare normally costs US$18.
The high costs and hyper immigration control associated with
attending the World Cup in the US are likely responsible for the dampened hotel
bookings.
Global broadcasts
There are even concerns with global broadcasts of games.
China and India, the two most populated countries in the World Cup, may not
often reach the final stages, but they are avid viewers of the games. Neither
has access as Fifa has yet to reach TV and digital coverage
agreements with providers in those countries.
At the 2022 World Cup, the two countries reportedly
accounted for 22.6% of total global TV reach. China alone accounted for 49.8%
of viewing hours on digital and social platforms. The dispute involves the huge
sums Fifa is asking for broadcast rights.
There are cultural exchanges that the World Cup provides
even for those who watch from home in different parts of the world.
While not as powerful as cultural learning through in-person contacts, there
are still opportunities to learn, depending on the focus of the media coverage.
The men’s World Cup, which celebrates 100 years in 2030 and
is co-hosted by an African country (Morocco), remains a key event in fostering
cultural understanding and exchange. While the 2026 World Cup will do this, it
has also brought to the fore the event’s ability to create division.