Take home from the just concluded 2026 world cup in united states, Canada and Mexico

By kipkemboi Duncan

The 2026 world cup held in United states of America, Canada and Mexico from the 11th of June to the 19th date of July 2026 ignited a lot of reactions after the Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan was denied entry into the United States to officiate.

When the US government was asked they said that Artan was a terror suspect which the Somali authorities denied accusing the USA for profiling their country. But that became a stepping stone for Omar Artan.

Artan will now officiate the UEFA supper cup between the European Champions Paris Saint -Germain vs the Europa league Champions Aston villa on 12th august 2026 in red bull arena, Salzburg Austria.

“I am just simply a referee who is trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life was to come to the world cup, I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa …I’m very, very disappointed. I don’t want compensation. I wanted to referee at the world cup. This was never a bout money; it was about the opportunity” Omar Abdulkadir Artan the Somali referee.

Omar Artan Abdulkadir, the Somali referee, during the African cup of nations match.

Photo credit CAF

The controversy did not end there because Iran had to play their games and go back to Mexico, and this was all because of the war that has been going on between U.S.A and Iran, for once football did not unite us but divided us.

There was a lot of controversial decisions exepecially from the VAR referees, that made people even believe that some teams were favoured by FIFA, the world football governing body, the hyration breaks was also another big issue coupled with high tickets prices.

Nevertheless the 48-team format proved successful although people feared it in the beginning, given that they are used to the 32- team format, many believed that this was going to reduce competitiveness, but to their surprise the small ” nations” exceeded expectations, notably Cape Verde, who never lost even a single game, up to the round of 32. Other nations who exceeded expectations were Congo and curacao, a country with a population of 185,000 people.

Photo credit FIFA

The tournament, marked the end of careers for some known players, the curtains came down for Christiano Ronaldo for this was his last world cup, but it was also the birth of many young players.

The reigning world champions had the youngest team in the tournament but proved that age does not matter when it comes to football, but talent does as Pau cubarsi of spain was named the best youngest player of the tournament as Spain emerged victorious.

” Yes, 2026 will be my last world cup, 100%. I will be 41 years old. I want to enjoy what will be my last world cup to the fullest, I won’t become more or less depending on whether I win the trophy, winning the world cup won’t define who I am” Christiano Ronaldo

As the gear now shifts to next world cup to be hosted jointly by Spain, Portugal and Morrocco, FIFA should learn from the many mistakes that were in this tournament and make the 2030 one of best.

But all in all the 104 games played across the three nations brought a lot of enthusiasm, for it is during this tournament that many records were broken, from attendance, television viewership and the goals scored, this reflected the growing global popularity of the FIFA world cup.

Many will be eager to know what the 2030 world will be like , and if Gianni Infantino will still be in office when the first whistle for the fast match will blown.

Over ally, the 2026 world cup demonstrated that football continues to grow worldwide, with more nations competing at a high level, exciting young talent emerging, and the expanded format bringing greater global participation. kudos to spain for winning their second trophy and cementing their name in the global stage.