🏆 Spain is the 2026 World Cup champion, defeating Argentina for its second title. As NPR’s Becky Sullivan, who was at Sunday's game, notes, the win marked the team’s 38th consecutive match without a loss, a run that includes their trophy in the 2024 European Championship. Here’s her full breakdown of the game.
🇪🇸 The Spanish football federation also made history as the first to win consecutive men's and women's World Cup titles.
🌍🩷 Shakira, Madonna and the Muppets: While the game was still tied 0-0, by halftime FIFA pulled off its first-ever World Cup final halftime show, featuring a parade of many of the biggest names in music, from BTS to Coldplay. As NPR’s Anastasia Tsioulcas explains, the 11-minute show felt a little more political than it might have otherwise.
🇺🇲 As the World Cup comes to an end, MLS works to bring in a new generation of fans. The 2026 World Cup is officially done, bringing to a close North America's first time hosting the men's tournament in over three decades. Hosting the 1994 World Cup was transformative for the sport of soccer in the United States. World Cup fever led millions of children to sign up for youth leagues. Now, MLS hopes that 2026 can be just as transformative as 1994. The question is: how?
⚽ Finding joy in talking to the women who love “the beautiful game”. For many girls and women around the world, the pitch had long been seen as “no place for girls.” But as NPR’s Jasmine Garsd puts it in her reflection on covering this year’s tournament: “[S]occer's soul lives in the neighborhood pitch, where girls and boys dream big, and celebrate goals as if it were them, playing on the world stage.”
📸 When the World Cup came to town: NPR member station photographers captured images of how, for a brief period, the World Cup became a part of local life across the U.S.
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