Which World Cup team has the most expensive roster? By the measure the soccer industry actually uses, it’s France, whose 2026 squad carries a combined market value of about 1.52 billion euros, more than the bottom two dozen squads at this tournament put together. At the other end sits Qatar, whose entire roster is valued … Read more
The most goals ever scored in a single FIFA World Cup tournament is 13, by Just Fontaine of France at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, a record that has stood for 68 years. But for the first time in a generation, the record book is under live assault: Lionel Messi’s 83rd-minute goal in Argentina’s … Read more
The top of the USMNT’s all-time scoring chart is a dead heat: Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan, teammates for a decade and the two faces of American soccer’s rise, are tied forever at 57 goals apiece. Officially, Dempsey is listed first on a superior goals-per-game rate; unofficially, the argument is a national pastime. Behind them, … Read more
The 2026 World Cup contains the most lopsided population matchup in the tournament’s history: the United States, 340 million people, sharing a field with Curacao, population roughly 156,000, the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup. That’s a gap of more than 2,000 to one. Entire American suburbs outnumber the island whose team … Read more
Has a goalkeeper ever scored in the World Cup? No. Not once. Twenty-three tournaments, nearly a thousand matches, more than 2,700 goals, and the number of them scored by goalkeepers is zero, one of the last unbroken droughts in the sport, still alive even at a 2026 World Cup that has shattered every scoring record … Read more
Who’s actually allowed to play for a country at the World Cup? The answer is one of soccer’s most misunderstood rulebooks. A passport alone isn’t enough. Being born somewhere isn’t required. A grandparent you never met can qualify you; five years of residency can qualify you; and one competitive match at the wrong moment can … Read more
Until this weekend, Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code was a paragraph only lawyers had read. Then FIFA used it to free Folarin Balogun, the USMNT’s leading scorer, from a red-card suspension on the eve of the Round of 16, and four sentences of legal boilerplate became the most argued-about text at the World … Read more
The 4-3-3 is modern soccer’s default setting: four defenders, a midfield triangle, and three forwards spread across the width of the pitch. It’s the shape of Cruyff’s Ajax, Guardiola’s Barcelona, and Klopp’s Liverpool; the formation taught in the sport’s most famous academy; and the system so dominant that most rival formations are best explained by … Read more
A red card is supposed to be final: off the pitch, banned for the next match, no arguments. Except sometimes the arguments win. Hours before the biggest American soccer match in a generation, FIFA freed USMNT striker Folarin Balogun from his red-card suspension, clearing him to face Belgium in Monday’s Round of 16 after one … Read more
A number 10 is soccer’s classic playmaker: the creator who lives in the pocket of space between the opponent’s midfield and defense, receives on the half-turn, and supplies the final pass. The name comes from a shirt, the No. 10 traditionally worn by the attacking midfielder, but it long ago outgrew the fabric. “Number 10” … Read more