With less than a month to go for the much-anticipated FIFA World Cup 2026, football fanatics are already losing sleep. Who will win the 2026 edition? Who will walk away with the Golden Ball? Who will bag the Golden Gloves award? Which underdog team will outperform a football giant?
Over the next few weeks, conversations will revolve around late-night matches, high-octane drama, tactical debates, and friendships temporarily sacrificed for football loyalties.In India, fans are ready to bring out their favourite team’s jerseys from the wardrobes. In cities like Kolkata and Malappuram, they have painted the alleys with the images of their childhood favourites, strung countries’ flags across the streets, and unfurled huge tifos on the terraces.
But the 2026 FIFA World Cup has a different ring to it. It feels like a generational transition.It might be the last World Cup for two football legends — Lionel Messi, 38, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 41. And, football is a sport that has never allowed anybody to dominate for a very long time.Every edition of the tournament carries its own emotional aura. Sometimes, it is about a host nation desperately trying to prove itself to the world, like South Africa in 2010. Sometimes, it is about tactical revolutions or sheer dominance on the field, like Germany in 2014. This time, it feels like the emotional handover from the Messi-Ronaldo era to an uncertain new football age — one chapter closing to make way for the beginning of another.Passing the baton
