The 2026 World Cup is the largest edition of the tournament ever staged: 48 nations, 104 fixtures, spread across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. England are among the sides travelling with genuine expectations, and fans following England top goalscorer betting will already have views on who carries the goal threat in the squad. With so many contenders across the draw, football odds reflect just how open the competition looks heading into the group stage.

In this article, we look at everything the FIFA Fan Festival offers in 2026, and why it might be the best way to experience the World Cup without a ticket.

What is the FIFA Fan Festival?

The FIFA Fan Festival is the official fan hub of the World Cup, running throughout the tournament in host cities across all three nations. FIFA describes it as “the central fan destination” of the 2026 edition, a free-to-enter space built around live match screenings, music, local food, and entertainment.

It’s aimed at fans who don’t have match tickets and at local communities in each host city. The concept has been part of the World Cup since Germany 2006, and it’s run at every tournament since, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022 all had their own versions.

Where are the Fan Festivals in 2026?

There are 14 official FIFA Fan Festival sites across the three host nations. In the USA, festivals are confirmed in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Philadelphia. Canada hosts sites in Toronto and Vancouver, while Mexico’s three festivals are in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.

New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles also have separate host city events running alongside the official programme, giving fans in those areas additional options beyond the festival sites.

Do you need a ticket?

Entry to the Fan Festival is free. No match ticket is required – you turn up, and you’re in. Specific entry requirements and any registration details may vary by city, so it’s worth checking the official FIFA Fan Festival pages at FIFA.com for the most current information before you travel. Details were correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change.

What’s on?

Every match in the tournament is screened live on giant outdoor screens, which means you can follow England’s group stage campaign, the knockout rounds, and the final without stepping foot in a stadium. Alongside the football, each festival features a music and entertainment programme running throughout the tournament, as well as food and drink from the local area.

The atmosphere draws a mix of travelling supporters and local fans, which gives each site its own character. Mexico’s festivals in particular carry a football culture unlike anywhere else in the host nations – the passion in Guadalajara and Mexico City tends to speak for itself.

Why it works

The Fan Festival has earned its place in the World Cup calendar over two decades. It gives fans who can’t afford or access match tickets a genuine way to be part of the tournament – not watching from a pub thousands of miles away, but stood in the host city, surrounded by supporters from around the world, watching the game on a screen the size of a building.

For most fans, that’s more than enough.

But if you actually look at what made each World Cup worth remembering — the football, the upsets, the moments that still get argued about in parking lots — a few editions separate themselves in determining the best World Cup tournament ever​.

Here’s how the top contenders stack up.

Top World Cup teams of all time

Mexico 1970 is where this argument usually starts among the best World Cup games of all time, and not just because people like old Brazil clips. That team had Pele dropping off, Jairzinho scoring in every match, Tostao dragging defenders around, Gerson passing through pressure, and Carlos Alberto charging from right-back like he had been invited late. Six matches, six wins. Italy got the full version in the final, 4-1.

The fourth goal keeps getting replayed because it has a beginning, a middle, and a punchline. Clodoaldo wriggles out of trouble first. Brazil move it across the pitch without rushing. Pele holds the last pass for a beat, just enough, then rolls it right. Carlos Alberto storms into the frame and finishes like a full-back who already knew the script.

Italy were not carved open by one pass. They were moved across the pitch until there was nowhere useful left to stand.

Brazil became the first nation to win three World Cups and took permanent possession of the Jules Rimet Trophy as a result. It also helped that 1970 looked different. This was the first World Cup many viewers saw in color, so Brazil did not arrive as just another great side in old footage.

They came through in yellow shirts, blue shorts, hard Mexican sunlight, and pitches that seemed to glow on television. Plenty of people who were nowhere near alive in 1970 still know the tournament by its colors before they know the details.

Qatar 2022 gets this high among the greatest FIFA World Cup options because of Lusail, really. Argentina had France beaten, or close enough that it felt safe to say so. Then Kylian Mbappe scored twice, Lionel Messi scored again, Mbappe hit back from the spot, and the final ended 3-3 after extra time. A World Cup final hat-trick should have belonged to the winner. Instead, it became part of Messi’s ending. Argentina took the shootout, he lifted the trophy at last, and the tournament closed with 172 goals across 64 games.

Morocco reached the semi final — the first African nation ever to do so. Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in the group stage. Japan beat Germany and Spain. There was almost too much happening, which is its own kind of problem, but the final alone earns Qatar 2022 a permanent spot in this conversation.

Switzerland 1954 is the one people forget, which is a mistake. It still holds the record for goals per game — 140 goals in just 26 matches, an average of 5.38 per game that will never be touched given how the tournament has expanded. Hungary scored 27 goals across five games, including a 9-0 win over South Korea and an 8-3 humiliation of West Germany in the group stage.

Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 in a quarter final. The final itself was West Germany coming back from 2-0 down to beat Hungary 3-2 — the same Hungary that had thrashed them by five goals weeks earlier. Germans call it the Miracle of Bern. It holds up.

Which World Cup had the strongest collection of teams?

Mexico 1970. The group stage alone had Brazil, England, West Germany and Italy — all of them genuine contenders, all of them with players who are still referenced as the best at their positions in history. Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore, Gerd Müller, and Gordon Banks were all in that tournament. Pelé played his last World Cup in it. The talent density hasn’t been matched since.

The best World Cup ever is Mexico 1970, and the football makes the argument for you without needing much help. But the debate is genuinely open at the top — which is exactly why people are already tracking the World Cup 2026 contenders to see which nation might finally give 1970 Brazil something to worry about.

Which World Cup featured the most iconic final?

Argentina vs France in 2022 is the honest answer if you’re talking about pure drama. Kylian Mbappe’s hat trick against the run of play, the comebacks, the penalties — it had everything. For sheer quality of football, Brazil vs Italy in 1970 still wins. Depends on what you’re measuring.

Which World Cup produced the most goals in tournament history?

Qatar 2022, with 172. Switzerland 1954 had fewer total goals (140) but produced them across only 26 games, which is why the goals-per-game record from that tournament has stood for seventy years.

Which World Cup had the most future Ballon d’Or winners?

Mexico 1970 again. Pelé (winner in 1970), Beckenbauer (1972 and 1976), and Müller (1970) were all present. Several players in that tournament went on to define the decade that followed it.

By the time Spain’s shot count crept past twenty-five in Atlanta on Monday, the shape of the evening was clear, and it was not the one anyone had forecast.

Cape Verde, a country of around 600,000 people playing its first World Cup match, was still level at 0-0, and the reason was not a series of last-ditch miracles so much as a defensive structure that refused to break and a 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha, who saved everything that got through it. Spain finished with twenty-seven shots to Cape Verde’s six. The scoreboard read 0-0 but it was a victory in all but name for the perceived minnows.

The result has been received in the obvious tenor; tiny island nation, big spirit, fairytale debut. It is an easy story to write. The trouble is that it patronises the team it means to celebrate. A point against the European champions, taken by sitting deep and staying organised for ninety-plus minutes against one of the best passing sides in the world, is not the work of plucky amateurs riding their luck. It is the work of a side that knew exactly what it was doing. Cape Verde did not stumble into that draw, they built the machinery to take it, frustrating Spain into goalless submission.

Pedro Leitão Brito, known to everyone as Bubista, has coached Cape Verde since 2020 and was named the African confederation’s coach of the year for 2025. His verdict afterwards was not about heart or destiny. “Organisation is fundamental in modern football,” he said, by way of explaining how a side that barely touched the ball had controlled the game. That is the language of a coach who planned to concede possession and did so deliberately, not one who survived a battering and thanked his luck. Spain had all of the ball. Cape Verde had the structure. On the night, the structure held just enough to withstand the onslaught.

Cape Verde is an archipelago off the West African coast, independent from Portugal since 1975, with a resident population that would fit comfortably inside a mid-sized European city. Its footballing population is far larger, spread all over the globe. Generations of emigration have scattered Cape Verdeans across Portugal, the Netherlands, France, New England and West Africa, to the point where the diaspora is usually estimated to outnumber the people living on the islands. The national team is, in the most precise sense, bigger than the nation. The squad that faced Spain was assembled from players based across roughly fourteen countries, the majority of them born outside Cape Verde. The Netherlands supplied the largest contingent; Portugal several more.

What makes Cape Verde different is the scale of the dependence and the deliberateness of the method. This is not a domestic league topped up with a few emigrants. It is, very nearly, a team built from the diaspora outward, by a federation that has gone looking for eligible players wherever they happen to have grown up. The most reliable way to understand how Cape Verde reached a World Cup is not as a miracle of spirit but as a sustained act of recruitment.

Which brings us to Roberto Lopes, and to a LinkedIn message that sat ignored in an inbox for the better part of a year.

Lopes, known as Pico, was born in Crumlin, in Dublin, to a Cape Verdean father and an Irish mother. He came up through Irish youth football and, for a time, was not a full-time footballer at all. He worked as a mortgage adviser at a bank in Blanchardstown while playing part-time for Bohemians, before a move to Shamrock Rovers turned him into a professional and, eventually, one of the most decorated defenders in the League of Ireland.

In 2019, Cape Verde’s then-coach Rui Águas, having worked out that Lopes qualified through his father, contacted him through his LinkedIn profile, in Portuguese. Lopes assumed it was spam and left it. The approach was renewed and a Dublin centre-back began a second career as a Cape Verde international.

On Sunday in Atlanta he started against Spain and, in doing so, became the first active League of Ireland player to appear at a World Cup. It is a story that lends itself to whimsy, and most of the coverage has taken the invitation. But Lopes is far from a footballing footnote or comic relief. He is the method made flesh. A federation that recruits by direct message, that treats a part-time professional in Ireland as a genuine international prospect because of who his father is, is a federation running a strategy, rather than waiting around for success to magically appear.

None of this is entirely comfortable, and the piece would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. A national team built largely from players raised elsewhere, some of them recruited as adults once their eligibility was established, raises a fair question about what national representation is supposed to mean. If a country can assemble a competitive side mostly from its diaspora, sometimes from players who considered other international futures first, is that a nation expressing itself through football, or a clever reading of FIFA’s eligibility rules? The question is worth sitting with rather than waving away. The honest answer is that it is some of both. Lopes, by every account, has thrown himself into the Cape Verdean project with a commitment that looks nothing like opportunism, and the same is true of most of the squad. But the tactic is becoming widespread and is not unique to Cape Verde; they have simply taken a now-common approach to its logical conclusion, because their circumstances left them with little else.

So the fairytale framing is not wrong, exactly. The joy is genuine, the achievement is large, and there is real romance in a country this small holding a giant at arm’s length. To deny that would be its own kind of condescension. The argument here is only that the romance is the less interesting half of the story. The more interesting half is that Cape Verde has shown what a small, stable, well-run football nation can do when it stops apologising for its size and starts organising around it: hire the right coach, identify the diaspora, build a structure, and pick the moments to defend.

Uruguay come next and with all four teams in Group H level on a single point, that match will go a long way to deciding whether this campaign becomes more than one good night in Atlanta. Cape Verde may well lose it; they remain, by squad value and pedigree, the weakest side in their group, and a single clean sheet against Spain does not change that. But the result that matters beyond this tournament has already been recorded. A nation of half a million, represented by a team drawn from a dozen other countries and marshalled by a man who was selling mortgages in Blanchardstown a decade ago, did not survive Spain by accident. They had a plan for exactly that evening, and the rest of the small football world has been handed a copy of it.

In the 28th minute against Scotland in Boston last Saturday, a John McGinn shot clipped a defender and changed direction enough to beat Johny Placide, and that settled it. Haiti pushed for the rest of the afternoon and came away with nothing: a 1-0 defeat in their first World Cup match in fifty-two years. Scotland had not won a match at this tournament since 1990. Haiti had not played one since 1974. Only one of those waits ended in Boston, and it was not Haiti’s.

The story that has grown up around this team is a warm one. A tiny, broken country qualifies against the odds; football arrives as relief; a nation that has had little to celebrate gets something. Most of that is true, and none of it should be sneered at. But it is a partial description, and the part it leaves out is the more revealing one. Haiti have reached a World Cup they qualified for without playing a single competitive match on Haitian soil, with a squad assembled almost entirely from players who grew up somewhere else. They are, in the most literal sense, a home team without a home.

Stade Sylvio Cator, the national stadium in Port-au-Prince, has been closed since early 2024, sitting in a part of the capital that armed groups control. Through a qualifying campaign that ended a half-century exile, Haiti played their “home” fixtures abroad. The coach who took them there, the Frenchman Sébastien Migné, was appointed in 2024 and, by his own account in the build-up, had never set foot in the country he was about to lead to a World Cup. None of this is presented here as scandal. It is the practical arrangement of a federation operating around a state that can no longer guarantee a football match.

Migné’s selection have had to lean heavily on the diaspora: players formed in France, in North America, in clubs across Europe. The forward Wilson Isidor, of Sunderland, and the midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde both came to Haiti having been eligible for France. This is worth handling carefully, because diaspora selection is now ordinary at the top of international football. France, Morocco and Senegal all draw on populations spread across continents, and nobody treats their squads as evidence of national collapse. Haiti is different not because its players were raised abroad but because there is no functioning home base for them to be raised in, nor to return to. The diaspora is not supplementing the domestic game. For the most part it has replaced it.

The temptation, with a team like this, is to reach back to 1974 for a golden age. It is worth resisting, because 1974 was not one. Haiti’s only previous World Cup did produce a moment that has lasted: Emmanuel Sanon running onto a pass and finishing past Dino Zoff, ending a run of 1,142 minutes in which the Italy goalkeeper had not conceded. Italy recovered to win 3-1, and Haiti lost all three games, but Sanon scored twice across the tournament and the goal against Zoff has kept its place in the highlight reels. That is the part everyone remembers.

The part that tends to fall out of the retelling is what happened to Ernst Jean-Joseph. The Haiti defender failed a doping test at that tournament, the first player ever to do so at a World Cup; he said the substance came from medication, an account his team’s own doctor disputed. What followed is grim, and the sources are not identical on every detail. ESPN’s history of the tournament records, plainly, that he was taken back to the team hotel and beaten up by his own squad’s officials. Other accounts, drawn from reporting since, describe members of the Duvalier dictatorship’s security apparatus removing him and putting him on a flight back to Haiti. The regime by then was that of Jean-Claude Duvalier, who had inherited his father’s machinery of fear. The squad, by several accounts, played out the rest of the tournament shaken. Whatever the precise sequence, the through-line is not nostalgia. In 1974 the Haitian state treated its footballers as property. The difference in 2026 is that the state is barely there at all.

Because the country behind this team is in a worse condition now than the headlines about gangs usually convey. The Kenyan-led international security mission that was meant to push back armed groups left Haiti at the end of April, widely judged to have failed, and is being replaced by a UN-authorised force that is not expected to reach anything like full strength until later this year. The first contingents have begun to arrive. In the meantime the violence has displaced well over a million people inside their own country. This is the backdrop against which eleven Haitian players walked out in Boston, and it is why almost none of them could have done the equivalent at home.

So the hopeful reading needs its hearing, because it is not wrong. Qualification has meant something. The reporting from Haiti and from its diaspora communities describes the team as a rare point of shared pride in a place with little to share, and there is no reason to doubt it. People are entitled to their joy, and the players are entitled not to be flattened into a metaphor for their country’s suffering. They are footballers who were good enough to reach a World Cup, and against Scotland they were the more adventurous side for long stretches before McGinn’s deflection. Reducing them to a symbol does them a quiet disservice.

But symbols are what tournaments manufacture, and the symbol being built around Haiti is a comforting one that does not quite fit the facts. The comforting version says a nation has come back. The more accurate version is that a nation has scattered, and that the World Cup is one of the few places its scattered parts can still gather under one shirt. The achievement and the absence are the same event. Haiti are here because Haitians are everywhere, and Haitians are everywhere because Haiti, as a place to live and play and host a football match, has been hollowed out.

Brazil are next, and then Morocco, and the likeliest outcome is that Haiti go home early, in the sporting sense, having given a decent account of themselves. The question this team raises is not whether it can recapture a 1974 that was never as golden as the clips suggest. It is whether, by the time another Haitian side qualifies, there will be an ordinary Haiti for it to come from: a stadium that opens, a league that functions, a capital its own players can enter. On current evidence that is a long way off, and a good run in this tournament, however welcome, will not bring it any closer. For now the team is the country’s best advertisement and its starkest accounting at once, and the people cheering loudest understand both halves of that better than anyone watching from a distance.

Several Premier League clubs face the prospect of losing key assets, while others are looking to rebuild. With top-flight football starting to wind down for the off-season, supporters who want to place their bets through a regulated digital bookmaker like Virgin Bet will still have plenty to follow across the summer transfer markets, and here are five of the biggest moves that could shape the division next season.

Anthony Gordon – Newcastle United to Bayern Munich

Anthony Gordon has emerged as one of the most coveted wide players in European football, and Bayern Munich are leading the race for his signature. The 25-year-old has established himself as an England regular and a focal point of Newcastle’s attack, contributing ten goals and two assists in Champions League football alone this season.

Vincent Kompany has given his personal approval for the deal, and Gordon has reportedly informed those close to him that he is open to the move, inspired in part by the successful transition of Michael Olise from the Premier League to the Bundesliga. Newcastle are aware of the interest and have begun identifying potential replacements, though they will not sell cheaply.

Reports suggest the Magpies will demand in the region of £75 million to enter formal negotiations, a fee that could yet open the door for Liverpool and Arsenal, who are also monitoring the situation closely.

Cole Palmer – Chelsea to Manchester United

Few transfers would generate more column inches this summer than Cole Palmer leaving Chelsea for Manchester United. The links are persistent, and the logic is not hard to follow. Palmer has had an uneven season at Stamford Bridge amid the club’s wider dysfunction, and with his family still based in Manchester and no certainty over his World Cup involvement with England, the conditions for a move feel closer than they ever have.

United, pushing for Champions League football under Michael Carrick, would represent a significant step up in ambition for a player widely regarded as one of the most gifted talents of his generation. Chelsea would be reluctant to sell to a direct rival, but their financial model and the need to generate revenue could yet make the unthinkable a serious conversation.

Sandro Tonali – Newcastle United to the Big Six

Sandro Tonali has been one of the Premier League’s standout midfielders since arriving at St. James’ Park, and his agent has publicly suggested that Newcastle represent a stepping stone for a player who should be competing in the Champions League every season.

Arsenal, Manchester United, and Manchester City are all believed to have Tonali high on their lists of midfield targets for the summer, with United currently considered his preferred destination. Newcastle have a contract running until at least 2029 and will demand a fee in the region of £100 million. The possibility of a gentleman’s agreement allowing him to leave if the club fails to secure European football has added further intrigue to a situation that could define Newcastle’s summer.

Morgan Rogers – Aston Villa to Paris Saint-Germain

Morgan Rogers has been one of the standout performers in the Premier League this season, and he has made no secret of the fact that his next move does not have to stay in England. Paris Saint-Germain have been heavily linked with the Villa midfielder, whose ability to carry the ball, create chances, and contribute at both ends of the pitch has drawn admiration from across Europe.

Rogers’ emergence has been one of the stories of the campaign, and Villa would face a significant challenge holding on to a player who has clearly outgrown the idea of remaining in a supporting role. A move to PSG would represent a considerable step up in profile and would signal his arrival as one of Europe’s elite creative midfielders.

Elliot Anderson – Nottingham Forest to Manchester City

City are leading the race for Elliot Anderson, and the 23-year-old looks set to be one of the defining signings of the summer window. The Nottingham Forest midfielder has been a revelation at the City Ground since joining from Newcastle in 2024, and his performances have earned him a firm place in England’s World Cup squad.

Sky Sports News has reported City as the frontrunners, with the club’s interest described as very serious, though Anderson himself is in no rush to resolve his future before the tournament in the United States. A fee in the region of £90 million is being discussed, a figure that reflects both his quality and his status as one of the most coveted homegrown midfielders in the game.

With the FIFA World Cup betting putting them second favourite as well, France are the latest to find themselves in the hot seat, having leapfrogged Spain and Argentina to claim top spot following victories over Brazil and Colombia in the March international window. The question is whether it represents a source of confidence or a poisoned chalice.

For Didier Deschamps, who has already confirmed he will step down at the conclusion of the tournament after almost 15 years in charge, with Zinedine Zidane waiting in the wings, the stakes could hardly be higher. A final tournament, a number one ranking, and a nation expecting a trophy. The pressure is considerable.

A troubling record

The history of the top-ranked nation at each World Cup since the rankings began makes for grim reading.

Germany went into the 1994 tournament in the United States as the world’s top-ranked side and were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Bulgaria, a result that remains one of the era’s great upsets. Four years later in France, Brazil carried the number one tag and reached the final, only to lose to the hosts in one of the most unusual finals in World Cup history, with Ronaldo’s mysterious illness casting a shadow over the occasion.

France themselves have form here. They entered the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea as both world champions and the top-ranked side in the world, and they were eliminated in the group stage without scoring a single goal. It remains one of the most catastrophic collapses in tournament history.

Brazil in 2006 and again in 2010 followed the same pattern. The Selecao arrived as the top-ranked nation on both occasions and were knocked out at the quarter-final stage each time, the latter a particularly painful defeat to the Netherlands in South Africa.

Spain went to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as world and European champions, and the number one-ranked team, and they joined France in the group stage exit hall of shame, beaten by the Netherlands and Chile in their opening two games.

Germany, the eventual winners of that tournament, went into the 2018 World Cup in Russia as top-ranked defending world champions, and they suffered the same humiliating fate, going out in the group stage following defeat to South Korea.

Most recently, Brazil arrived at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as the top-ranked nation and were eliminated at the quarter-final stage, beaten on penalties by Croatia in a match they had led going into the closing stages of extra time.

The pattern

Eight tournaments. One finalist. Two quarter-final eliminations. Four group stage exits. Not a single winner. The top-ranked team has never lifted the World Cup in the history of the FIFA rankings. It is a remarkable and consistent record of underperformance that defies easy explanation but is impossible to ignore.

What it means for France

France are not without genuine cause for optimism. They reached the final in 2022, losing on penalties to Argentina in one of the greatest finals in the tournament’s history, and their squad remains one of the most talented in the world. Kylian Mbappe, despite fitness concerns at club level with Real Madrid, is the defining player of his generation when fit, and the generation of midfielders behind him has matured significantly since Qatar.

But the weight of expectation is real, and the history of the number one ranking at World Cups suggests it brings with it a target rather than a shield. Every opponent will be motivated, every result will be scrutinised, and every slip will be magnified.

Deschamps has navigated pressure before, but this is his final chapter, and France’s players know it. Whether the number one ranking proves to be a foundation for glory or just another entry in a long list of cautionary tales, the tournament this summer will tell us soon enough.

For Thomas Tuchel, maybe it’s a good thing that the Three Lions are neither ranked No.1 in the world or favourite in the England betting markets for the tournaments.

On Monday, May 25, I attended the Unity Cup press conference, where I spoke with Jamaican head coach Rudolph Speid and Reggae Boyz captain Damion Lowe ahead of the tournament.

Rudolph Speid:

We are confident, we have a lot of young talented players that we can choose from. We have the CONCACAF Nations League coming up in September, so it’s a good chance for the younger players to showcase what they can do and I’m hoping they can give the other players some serious competition.

Damion Lowe:

I’m heartbroken not getting to the World Cup, as I’m at the back end of my national career. But it’s time to pave the way for the next generation of players and I hope they can take the nation to the next level.

With the tournament set to showcase established stars and emerging talent, here is your guide to the teams — and the key players to watch.

India

India arrive at the 2026 Unity Cup following a mixed run of results, with inconsistent Asian Cup qualifying form exposing lingering attacking limitations and contributing to a slide to 136th in the FIFA World Rankings. Yet recent performances suggest the Blue Tigers are beginning to stabilise under a more pragmatic identity.

Head coach Khalid Jamil has overseen a tactical shift towards defensive organisation and quick transitions, while integrating fresh domestic talent alongside experienced leaders such as Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali and Lallianzuala Chhangte. Encouraging performances in late 2025 – including a draw against higher-ranked Oman at the CAFA Nations Cup – provided evidence that India are beginning to find greater structure and resilience.

Key player: Ryan Williams is expected to shoulder much of India’s attacking responsibility during the tournament. In March 2026, he made an immediate impact by scoring the fastest goal by an Indian debutant in men’s national team history, finding the net within four minutes against Hong Kong. His movement, energy and finishing could prove decisive if India are to upset higher-ranked opposition.

Jamaica

For Jamaica, the 2026 Unity Cup represents both reflection and renewal. After narrowly missing out on a place at the World Cup, the Reggae Boyz have turned to newly appointed head coach Rudolph Speid to lead the next phase of development.

A 1-0 defeat to DR Congo in the inter-confederation play-offs served as a reminder of the fine margins separating success and disappointment, yet with the CONCACAF Nations League beginning in September, this tournament offers an ideal platform to evaluate emerging talent and establish the foundations of Speid’s squad.

Key player: At just 21-years-old, Bailey Cadamarteri has already established himself as a regular starter for the Reggae Boyz. Blessed with electrifying pace and a direct attacking style, the forward poses a constant threat in transition. Following a standout spell at Sheffield Wednesday, Cadamarteri secured a high-profile winter move to Wrexham.

Nigeria

Nigeria’s Super Eagles arrive at the Unity Cup carrying momentum after securing third place at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, further reinforcing their reputation as one of Africa’s football powerhouses. Nigeria edged past Egypt in a dramatic penalty shootout to claim the bronze medal, underlining the squad’s resilience and composure in high-pressure moments.

Combining elite-level experience with emerging attacking talent, the Super Eagles will enter the tournament as favourites to retain their Unity Cup crown, boasting physicality, technical quality and proven tournament pedigree.

Key player: Akor Adams has rapidly developed into a key focal point for the Super Eagles, offering a powerful physical presence alongside intelligent hold-up play and sharp movement in the penalty area. The striker has continued his rise at club level, scoring 10 goals in 31 appearances to help Sevilla preserve their top-flight status and he could be central to Nigeria’s ambitions in London.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Warriors head into the Unity Cup determined to build on encouraging performances despite an early exit at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where results arguably failed to reflect their competitiveness.

Although they finished bottom of Group B, Zimbabwe showed resilience by earning a hard-fought draw against Angola and pushing continental heavyweights South Africa and Egypt close before late goals proved decisive in narrow defeats. While greater consistency in key moments remains an area for improvement, the tournament offers an important opportunity to regroup, integrate emerging talent and continue developing a squad capable of competing more consistently on the continental stage.

Key player: Marvelous Nakamba headlines Zimbabwe’s squad as both captain and midfield anchor. The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder brings elite-level leadership and top-flight pedigree, having previously featured in the Premier League with Aston Villa and Luton Town. His composure, ball-winning ability and experience will be crucial if the Warriors are to challenge for the Unity Cup.

Lifting the prestigious trophy would be a fitting way for the newly-crowned Premier League champions to end what has already been a memorable season for the club.

However, defending champions Paris Saint-Germain are the bookmakers’ favourites to be crowned European champions for the second consecutive year.

The oddsmakers at LiveScore Bet rate PSG as 8/13 shots to win the Champions League, while the Gunners are priced at 13/10.

Given the manner of PSG’s performances during the knockout stage, they look a banker bet to defeat Arsenal at the Puskas Arena. Read on as we look at some key talking points ahead of the game.

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Arsenal victory would vindicate €1 billion spend

When Arsenal urged their fans to ‘trust the process’, they were asking for something which is a rare commodity in football – patience.

The club has used the time productively, spending €1 billion on new players over the past five years to build a squad which is fit for purpose.

However, winning the Premier League this season is not enough on its own to justify that sizeable outlay. Winning the Champions League would be.

That will be easier said than done, with PSG a significant level above any team the Gunners have defeated on their way to the final.

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Rice has a chance to silence the doubters

Arsenal’s decision to sign Declan Rice from West Ham United for £100 million plus add-ons in 2023 was a move designed to turn them into serial winners.

It has taken three years for the England midfielder to get his hands on silverware and many people remain unconvinced about him.

In fairness to Rice, he has had a strong season for the Gunners. However, he has yet to produce the type of performance befitting a £100m player.

The Champions League final offers him an opportunity to rewrite the narrative. If he dominates the midfield and Arsenal win the game, it will have been money well spent.

Flat-track bully or the final piece in the jigsaw?

Having finishing runners-up in the Premier League for the previous three seasons, Arsenal desperately needed to sign a prolific striker.

They chose Viktor Gyokeres to be the final piece in the jigsaw and he has helped them win the title in his first season. Despite this, not everyone is convinced by him.

The Swedish striker has padded his statistics with goals against struggling teams and penalties. His tally of five goals in 12 Champions League appearances is underwhelming.

Gyokeres is in the same boat as Rice. If he ends the season as a Champions League winner, no one can question Arsenal’s decision to buy him.

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PSG present a major challenge to Arsenal

PSG’s 5-0 demolition job on Inter Milan in last year’s final was one of the best performances ever produced at the end of a major competition.

The Ligue 1 giants reached that final by defeating Arsenal home and away in the last four. They dominated both games on that occasion.

The battle was ultimately won in midfield, where Vitinha, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz left Rice and his teammates chasing shadows.

PSG defeated Chelsea and Liverpool on their way to the final this season, so know what it takes to beat the top teams in the Premier League.

As the 36 teams completed eight matches each, a number of players stood out across all positions. From strikers banging in goals to defenders and goalkeepers keeping rivals at bay, here are the best performers from the league phase.

Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe was the most influential attacking player of the league phase. The Real Madrid forward finished as the competition’s leading goalscorer with 13 goals in seven appearances. He also broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most goals scored in a Champions League league phase, which previously stood at 11.  

His standout moment came against Olympiacos, where he scored a hat-trick in just seven minutes, making it the second–fastest hat-trick in Champions League history. Mbappe was only 30 seconds slower than Mohamed Salah, who still holds the record.

His finishing, movement and consistency ensured Madrid progressed, even though they fell short of automatic qualification.

Harry Kane

Harry Kane continued to show why he remains one of Europe’s most reliable strikers. The Bayern Munich forward scored eight goals across the league phase and combined his finishing with intelligent link-up play, frequently dropping deep to bring others into the game.

Kane’s goals were spread across multiple matches, underlining his consistency and helping Bayern finish comfortably inside the top eight.

Dominik Szoboszlai

In midfield, Dominik Szoboszlai was one of the most complete performers. The Liverpool midfielder contributed either a goal or an assist in seven of the eight league games, while also covering significant ground off the ball.

His ability to arrive late in the box and deliver from set pieces made him a key figure in Liverpool’s progression, while his defensive work helped maintain balance in midfield.

Vitinha

Vitinha played a crucial role for Paris Saint-Germain during the league phase. Operating primarily in central midfield, he scored five goals across the eight matches, with three of those coming from strikes outside the penalty area.

His ability to control possession, progress the ball through midfield and contribute goals from distance was central to PSG’s attacking play. Vitinha’s performances helped the reigning champions collect enough points to reach the knockout play-offs despite missing out on automatic qualification.

Virgil van Dijk

Defensively, Virgil van Dijk stood out as the most dominant centre-back of the league phase. The Liverpool captain contributed two goals and two assists while anchoring a defence that recorded fourclean sheets.

His aerial dominance and reading of the game allowed Liverpool to control matches and limit chances against them.

Alejandro Grimaldo

Alejandro Grimaldo impressed at left-back for Bayer Leverkusen, offering consistent attacking output from deep. His four goals and one assist highlighted his ability to influence matches at both ends of the pitch.

Micky van de Ven

Micky van de Ven was one of Tottenham’s most effective performers during the league phase. The centre-back scored two goals, which made him the joint second-highest scorer for Spurs in the competition.

The standout moment was his solo goal against Copenhagen, where he carried the ball from deep inside his own half before finishing, a goal that has been widely referenced among the best of the league phase.

Defensively, Van de Ven was equally important, playing a key role in four of Tottenham’s six clean sheets through his recovery pace, positioning and ability to defend large spaces.

Guglielmo Vicario

In goal, Guglielmo Vicario delivered a series of commanding performances for Tottenham. He kept five clean sheets in his last six games and made a total of 23 saves during the league phase, particularly in tight away fixtures. His distribution also helped Spurs build from the back with confidence.

Nick Pope

Nick Pope was another standout goalkeeper. The Newcastle United keeper recorded multiple clean sheets and produced a number ofhigh-quality saves, including a decisive penalty stop against PSG. He also got a rare assist in the game against Benfica, with a 65-yard throw helping Harvey Barnes to find the back of the net.

David Raya

David Raya delivered a highly consistent league phase for Arsenal. The goalkeeper recorded five clean sheets and conceded just two goals across his appearances, providing a stable foundation for Arsenal’s unbeaten run.

But the epic rise of BATE Borisov was followed by an equally epic collapse, though they are on the brink of a return to the top table having just won their first silverware in five years.

Rise and fall

Back-to-back promotions in 1996/97 saw the Minsk region team hit the Belarusian top flight, where they then finished second and first, in the following two seasons. There would ‘only’ be one more league title in the following six campaigns, before it clicked. They did, as is now known in Belarus, the ‘unlucky 13-in-a-row’ from 2006 to 2018. When I first reported on them for BPF, mid-pomp, there were worries about the club’s stability and future, the next time, it was game over.

Last season, I got to cover a few of their games and went behind the scenes while shooting a sports series, and spoke with club officials. Their ‘new’ stadium remains one of the most futuristic and impressive I’ve ever visited. Great views from everywhere, lovely grounds, yet this year they played their ‘home’ cup game at the Energetik Stadium in Minsk. Having invested tens of millions into a superb stadium and training base, they didn’t include an all-weather ground for springtime, when most natural grass surfaces in Belarus are unplayable.

That they were playing near neighbours Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino, who also don’t have a reserve stadium capable of hosting matches in spring, is a definite knock on both clubs. A week previous, Torpedo, perennial cup pretenders, had to host BATE at the tidy Dinamo-Yuni Stadium in Minsk. ‘Yuni’ is the home of Dinamo Minsk’s reserve and women’s teams. It’s far from the top tier.

Back to BATE, after three runners-up spots, last year the club sank to 10th place in the table and looked like being relegated at one point. Losing at home to the relegated and terribly inadequate Molodechno was. The newly promoted side, also from the Minsk region, were woefully poor. Interestingly, the team who came up with them, ML (Maxline) Vitebsk, went on to win the Premier League. Maxline, a betting company, owns the club and avoids the regulations for maximum player payments that state-owned/sponsored clubs like BATE, Torpedo, and Dinamo Minsk face. 2025 was one of the weakest domestic seasons in Belarus and only for being marginally less awful than four other clubs, BATE would be back in the second tier with financial, management, and infrastructural issues. And then…

Green buds in Borisov

Last season the club grabbed the impressive, if fragile, Ivorian attacker Yao Jean Charles (aka JC) from Russia’s SKA Khabarovsk. Pacey and skillful with a superb left foot, Charles and youth product Vlad Yatskevich (22) saved them. In the second leg of the cup tie with Torpedo in March, JC scored a screamer from 25 yards that set the club up for a 2-1 aggregate win. As good as the African is, the crop of youngsters from their youth system, who grew up knowing only glory, are a promising supporting cast.

Nikita Neskoromny (20) is a very tidy defender getting more game time as the club don’t have the cash to splash on older players. He rejected trials this off-season with top clubs in Russia, Austria, and Holland. Nikolay Mirsky (20) impressed against Torpedo and will eventually find himself as an attacking midfielder, with the ball control and speed to make an impact anywhere. Midfielder Egor Rusakov (19) is already on the radar of Wisla Krakow and VfB Stuttgart. And these ‘kids’ have brought fans back to the club.

Back to basics

The massive amount of kids following BATE was pointed out by a former colleague at the Torpedo game. Lots of kids, brought up on songs and stories of great deeds at home and abroad. Draws with Juventus in 2008, beating Everton away in 2009 and Roma in 2015, and those 13 championships. The hunger in Borisov is back, off the field as well. And it paid dividends in Saturday’s cup final.

Having won 5 leagues with BATE as a player, Artem Kontsevoy cut his teeth as a youth coach with the club before getting the top job last July. He knows the talent and potential in the pipeline and is keen to develop it. His assistant Vladimir Nevinsky was a player in the early days of BATE’s rise, before becoming part of the club’s coaching staff. Kontsevoy was coached by him and was keen to keep him at the club when he took over.

Another senior coach, Dmitry Likhtarovich, is a former BATE star who won 11 leagues with the club before retiring in 2015. He immediately joined the reserve team coaching staff and was promoted to the first team in 2020. BATE have gone back to basics with their coaching system, using the old ‘Liverpool Boot Room’ method which the late Anatoly Kapski, the club founder and chair, espoused and that BPF was the first outlet to point out in 2012!

Kapsky’s son, Andrey, has finally begun to get to grips with being chairman. Financial worries have been eased by agreeing long term tenancy at the stadium, along with a solid sponsorship deal with a betting company. The latter saw heated debate among club followers, though as one fan leader told me – “Just to keep the first team together and not lose players to Lithuania or Kazakhstan, we need to do such a deal, even with a devil.”

Can’t win with kids

At the game with Torpedo and in the stadium on Saturday, I heard the oft-used Alan Hansen bit about kids not being able to win. As one BATE fan organiser told me:

Too many false starts, corners to turn and moment to be excited. I agree giving young academy players games, but look at Vitebsk [league champs ML], they bring in a famous Jamaican for lots of money, how do we compete with that? With kids!

The Jamaican is Shamar Nicholson (29), the Caribbean island’s sixth top goal scorer and mainstay of the national team. He arrived in Belarus on a loan deal from Mexican club Tijuana, who pay 90% of his salary. Having seen Nicholson in the flesh, with Spartak Moscow, he may have found his level. A big, strong forward, he was routinely embarrassed by solid, unspectacular Russian defenders.

In fairness, he showed little glimpses of promise before the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, but usually was poor.

BATE can’t afford themselves luxuries like expensive imports and are now trying to live within their meagre means. On Saturday they were terrible in the first half against giant Dinamo Minsk, before replaced JC with 19-year-old Kirill Apanasevich. Kirill, who moved from Dinamo last year, ran from half-way to coolly slot home the equaliser. In one of the best halves of football I’ve seen in years, both sides did enough to win, before it went to extra-time and penalties. The ‘Yellow-Blues’ held their nerves to win 8-7 and not one person there begrudged them.

Afterwards, the BATE fan organiser messaged me. She had been furiously posting on Instagram and told me that “this means more than the 13 leagues. We are almost back.”

BATE and Dinamo will begin their UEFA Conference League adventures in the 1st qualifying round, along with Bohemians and Glentoran, though have to play their ‘home’ ties in a neutral venue due to UEFA sanctions. The decision to not ban Belarusian clubs is seen as a ‘win’ for many in the country, though the kids who cheered their heroes to victory on Saturday won’t get to enjoy a ‘European night,’ for now.

And if BATE can keep this current crop together and add in a couple more experienced foreigners like ex-Chelsea player Victorien Angban, in the next two seasons they’ll win the league.