The greatest joy of the 2026 World Cup, like every previous World Cup, still comes from football itself. Shining stars, dramatic matches, fiery confrontations, beautiful goals and countless memorable moments have created an emotional summer of football.
But the disappointment of the tournament is also no less familiar, coming from FIFA's management. High ticket prices, political factors, increasingly obvious trends of commercialization, and water breaks even in matches taking place on roofed fields have made many fans feel disgusted.
FIFA's lack of transparency in many issues, from controversial VAR decisions to suspicions about the leadership's impact on players' suspensions, has cast a shadow over the tournament that should have been a purely football festival.
Perhaps no World Cup has forced fans to constantly fluctuate between joy and skepticism like this year's tournament.
However, it would be unfair to let off-field controversies overshadow the professional quality. Throughout more than a month of competition, the 2026 World Cup has contributed exciting matches and brought a rare eye-catching feeling.
If World Cup 2002 or World Cup 2010 witnessed many disappointing "giants", then at World Cup 2026, most of the top names played as expected. Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot after surpassing Lionel Messi and Jude Bellingham, the 4 strongest teams in the semi-finals, and Erling Haaland helped Norway write their own fairy tale.
Spain is also completely worthy of the championship after a convincing journey, and also becomes the first country in history to simultaneously hold both men's and women's World Cup titles.
Of course, the tournament still has matches that are not attractive, but those are only a few. Canada won a match in the World Cup knockout round for the first time. Mexico also made a mark when winning in the knockout round and only succumbed to England in the final minutes of the match considered the best in the tournament.
The US team also brought a memorable performance. They topped the group, won 3 consecutive matches at the World Cup for the first time in history, scoring 11 goals - the best scoring record ever for the men's team of this country. After the victory over Australia, the image of thousands of fans and players singing "Country Roads" on the streets of Seattle became one of the most emotional moments of the tournament.
However, alongside those emotions are a series of controversies that are hard to ignore.
One of the decisions that caused the most reactions was FIFA putting advertising in the middle of the match through water suspensions, disrupting the pace of competition that is a characteristic of football.
For many people, these events shake faith in FIFA and the transparency of the World Cup. More importantly, they can create dangerous precedents for future tournaments.
Finally, it is almost certain that FIFA and the US will continue to cooperate to organize more major football events in the coming years, possibly even the 2038 World Cup.
When the final whistle of the 2026 World Cup sounded, the emotions left in the fans were also full of contradictions. It was a great tournament. It was also a controversial tournament. And despite everything, people will still look forward to the World Cup returning.
