<description>104 games. 48 teams. Three host nations. &lt;a href="https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026"target="_blank" &gt;One dream.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The men’s World Cup returns to North America for the first time in 32 years. And fans from all over the world are descending on cities like Dallas, Toronto, and Monterrey, hoping to watch their nations find glory.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;But it’s not all grass and glamour. The run-up to this tournament has been &lt;a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/06/world-cup-fifa-trump/687428/"target="_blank" &gt;plagued by issues&lt;/a&gt; around &lt;a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/ckgpv7v4p9lo"target="_blank" &gt;ticket pricing,&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-cup-mass-transit-us-costs/"target="_blank" &gt;transportation costs,&lt;/a&gt; threats of &lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/06/08/how-world-cup-became-front-line-immigration-debate-us/"target="_blank" &gt;immigration enforcement,&lt;/a&gt; and the consequences of geopolitical conflict.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;What does it all mean for the action on the field?&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;Find more of our programs &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://the1a.org/shows"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;online&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://plus.npr.org/the1a"target="_blank" &gt;&lt;em&gt;plus.npr.org/the1a&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;See &lt;a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com"&gt;pcm.adswizz.com&lt;/a&gt; for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

1A

NPR

Sports: The Grassy, Gory Glory Of World Cup 2026

JUN 10, 202628 MIN
1A

Sports: The Grassy, Gory Glory Of World Cup 2026

JUN 10, 202628 MIN

Description

104 games. 48 teams. Three host nations. One dream.The men’s World Cup returns to North America for the first time in 32 years. And fans from all over the world are descending on cities like Dallas, Toronto, and Monterrey, hoping to watch their nations find glory.But it’s not all grass and glamour. The run-up to this tournament has been plagued by issues around ticket pricing, transportation costs, threats of immigration enforcement, and the consequences of geopolitical conflict.What does it all mean for the action on the field?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy