The tournament in 2026 will have 48 teams

Over time, the World Cup became a commercial powerhouse

The 1954 World Cup featured the first live black-and-white televised broadcast of the event, and, in 1970, FIFA introduced color broadcasts in primetime. Increasing revenues pushed private networks to aggressively bid for broadcast rights. Today, the event is a commercial powerhouse, with the 2026 World Cup projected to generate around $4B in TV rights revenue.

FIFA was formed in 1904 and held its first tournament in 1930

In 1930, the first World Cup was held in Uruguay after the Olympics refused to allow professional soccer players to play in the 1932 games. The host country made it to the final of the 13-team event, playing against Argentina. Watch this remastered film of the 1930 match with Uruguay defeating Argentina 4-2 in front of 68,000 screaming fans at the newly opened Estadio Centenario.

How the soccer World Cup works

The World Cup is the biggest game in the world. Watch this video to learn how it works and how it came to be such a massive world event.

Five unforgettable World Cup moments

Great things happen on the biggest sporting stage the world has to offer. Check out five of the most amazing moments from the last twenty years of World Cup soccer.

The College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams in 2024

Beginning with the 2024 season, the playoff grew from four to 12 teams—adding first-round games on campus and aiming to give more programs a shot at the national title. Ohio State defeated Notre Dame in the championship to become the first-ever 12-team playoff champions.

A hoops expert on the likely March Madness expansion

Rumors about March Madness expanding to a field of 76 teams have led to consternation among some college basketball fans, who believe overcrowding the tournament will dilute what makes it great. HoopsHQ's Seth Davis argues it's a good idea, comparing the change to college football's recent (and highly successful) playoff system.

The World Cup ball has had 23 different designs

Adidas has supplied the official ball for the last 15 iterations. The first World Cup final featured two different balls: one provided by Argentina and one supplied by Uruguay. Argentina was winning 2-1 before the balls were switched. Uruguay went on to win the match 4-2.

The 20th-century rise of fascism affected the World Cup

Spain, in the midst of a civil war, did not participate, and Japan, after invading China, pulled out of the competition. An additional six Central and North American teams scratched by the time that year's World Cup began.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

6.7 million people attended Oktoberfest in 2024

With 6.7 million visitors and 1.8 million gallons of beer consumed, 2024's Oktoberfest was large, but smaller than 2023's, which had 7.2 million visitors, making it the most-attended Oktoberfest ever. It was also not the Oktoberfest that consumed the most beer—that would be 2011, with nearly 8 million liters, or roughly three Olympic swimming pools’ worth.

The WNBA includes 13 teams

Many teams share markets with an NBA team, and some share arenas; however, seven are independently owned. The WNBA will expand into Canada in 2026.

Young Brazilians protested their country's hosting of the 2014 World Cup

In 2013, the Confederations Cup in Brazil was marked with widespread protests in a period dubbed "Generation June." Many were angry about the looming 2014 World Cup, which they believed was an affront to the country's many pressing issues.

X Games League to debut team-based format in 2026

Beginning in 2026, the X Games League will feature four city-based franchises with male and female athletes competing in skateboarding, BMX, and motocross—introducing season-long team competition to the event’s structure.

San Diego Comic-Con will expand internationally in 2025

September 2025 will mark the inaugural global edition of San Diego Comic‑Con—marking the convention’s first expansion outside the US. The event will offer 300 hours of programming and is expected to draw around 60,000 fans.

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Games are the most geographically spread out ever

As part of the planning committee's efforts to reduce costs and minimize infrastructure impact, existing ski resorts, rinks, and stadiums were used for the Winter Olympics in northern Italy. This inherently spreads events out, with venues scattered over a roughly 8,500-square-mile area of the country. See a map of the venues here.

Grands Prix run March through December at circuits across 5 continents

F1's nine-month season crosses five continents in locations steeped in history and meaning for drivers, teams, and the sport. There are 24 events in 2026, starting in Australia and ending in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

See who attended Davos 2025

Each year, Davos draws one of the most exclusive guest lists in the world. In 2025, attendees included 60 heads of state, over 900 CEOs and corporate chairs, and top leaders from global civil society, who gathered in the Swiss Alps.

The UN’s interactive site analyzing the world’s population

The 2022 revision of World Population Prospects contains the official population estimates and projections from the United Nations. It presents population estimates from 1950 to present for 237 countries or areas around the world. The data consider...

There are 32 teams in the NFL

Click a team's name to see their current record and opponent for the day; read the latest news, including injuries; view the remaining schedule; find out where the team is in the standings; discover the current roster; explore all player and team stats; and watch the latest video highlights.

NFL stadiums are designed to maximize profit, not number of seats

Most stadiums are actually getting smaller as the cost of land rises. Owners have sought to increase returns by designing prestige suits and clubs (rather than just more general admission) and laying out the stadium to maximize customer purchases.

China doubled its nuclear stockpile between 2020 and 2025, with plans for further expansion

China's arsenal grew from an estimated 300 warheads in 2020 to approximately 600 in 2025—making it the world's third-largest nuclear power. The US Department of Defense projects that China will surpass 1,000 warheads by 2030.

From 2023 to 2025, coral reefs experienced their fourth global bleaching event

Heat stress from the 33-month-long event impacted about 84.4% of the world's coral reef area across waters in at least 83 countries and territories, making it the largest such event to date. Due to climate change, about 90% of coral reefs are expected to undergo bleaching annually by 2050, leaving insufficient time for recovery during the winter months between bleaching events.

Experts believe a Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship is likely in 2026

In September 2025, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to review lower court rulings striking down its executive order on birthright citizenship. If the court takes the case, a decision is expected by mid-2026.

Ramadan will be celebrated twice in 2030 due to the 33-year lunar cycle

Because the Islamic year is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, Ramadan migrates through every season over a 33-year cycle. In 2030, it will fall twice in the same Gregorian year.

The world's largest restaurant is the size of 10 football fields

The Bawabet Dimashq Restaurant in Damascus, Syria, has held the Guinness World Record for largest restaurant since 2008. It can seat 6,014 guests and employs nearly 1,800 people, who serve up an eclectic menu of Middle Eastern Indian, Arab, Iranian, Syrian, and Chinese dishes.

The alternative investments industry is expected to grow significantly in the coming years

More specifically, as of 2024, the alternative investments industry was expected to grow to more than $24T in assets in 2028—up from roughly $15T in 2022.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spurring new Ebola vaccine development for the Bundibugyo species.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.