The World Cup

I've become interested in following the 2026 World Cup (of men's soccer, to be clear) in the coming year. There are a number of factors driving this:

• Ted Lasso
• It takes place this time in the US and Canada and Mexico, so time zone friendly
• Norway is in it, for the first time in decades
• DR Congo has a chance to be in it, first time since 1974
• My neighbors are into following it, Europeans and Central Americans
• It's the most popular event on the planet:  I was startled on my boat trip this summer to have all my fellow passengers watch, on two consecutive nights, women's European playoffs, and discuss passionately, showing intimate knowledge of individual players and coaches
• I might get my family into following this with me
• The NY Times has extensive coverage 

But as I started to read some of the coverage in the Times, I realized how little I actually understood about what was happening, on or off the field. So, I've started to tackle this like the "A" student I should have been. I'm studying up! Here are some tidbits I've learned. So far, I've tried to understand the mechanics of the tournament, and a bit about the teams overall. I need to learn more about the game itself, but that will come later.

• The games will be held during June and July, in several cities in the US, Canada and Mexico
• FIFA, the governing body, is at least as corrupt, money grubbing, and Eurocentric as the International Olympic committee. (I'm watching despite this)
• There will be 48 teams competing.  
• There are still six slots to be filled. One for Africa/the Caribbean, will be determined in a game on March 31. This is the Congo's chance to get in. 
• Norway's team isn't that great overall, but they have a young star player considered by many to be the best striker in the world. (I still need to understand what a striker is!)
• The initial "draw" happened this week at the Kennedy Center with FIFA slobbering all over our national embarrassment. It set out 12 groups of four teams each, determining initial play, the "Group Round". 
• All four teams of a group play each other for the Group Round in June. That is three games for each group. After the three games, the bottom-placed team is done, the others go on to play in the Knockout Round.
• I'm a little hazy here, but I think the third place team from the group round sticks around to play other third place teams in the "round of 32", which starts June 30. The second and first place teams go on to play in that round, and also winners move on to the round of 16, then quarter-finals, then semi-finals, then finals.
• Group I, with France, Senegal, Norway, and an unknown still-to-qualify team, is known as "The Group of Death". This group is considered to be the hardest competition, with all three known teams considered formidable. I think the first and second placed teams in this group have a chance to go on to win the whole thing.
• The team rosters have not yet been filled out. Since this is months away, they have a chance to add and subtract. Interestingly, World Cup play is not considered to be the highest and best football, and it's partly because the players don't stick together for that long.
• The first tickets went on sale in October, before I got interested in this. FIFA wants to control the secondary market, requiring ID at the matches to match initial ticket buyers or registered secondary buyers through their platform. But they will allow "dynamic pricing", ie scalping. Prices for existing tickets are already will into four digits, with others up in five digits. 
• More tickets will become available, with lotteries to be able to buy them. I may put in for some of the geographically desirable early rounds, depending on prices. The NYTimes ticket explainer will help me figure it out.
• I think the US broadcast rights went to Fox Sports and Telemundo. I don't have either of those, but I'll check into it when we get closer. 

 There you have it, folks. My new couch-friendly hobby!