Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.For me, it’s Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton in a white cap trying to throw bottles of water onto the pitch in 1994. My mum inventing a ‘dentist’s appointment’ so I could miss an afternoon of school to watch England’s opening game in 1998. Visiting Robben Island and speaking to former inmates for whom football was their escapism before the 2010 tournament in South Africa. Sneaking away from a wedding to feed my three-month-old daughter and watch on my phone as England beat Sweden in the 2018 quarter-finals. Witnessing first-hand the magic of individual brilliance sparkling on the biggest stage of all for Argentina’s victory over France in the 2022 final.The World Cup evokes so many memories for so many people; really vivid and visceral snapshots of who you were with and what life was like for you at the time. Sometimes they are about the actual football — a goal, a moment of skill, a controversy — but so often it’s about an emotional connection and the sense of being in something, really in the moment, at the same time as millions of people across the world.That special sense of belonging is something that sport can provide like nothing else and yet the real beauty is that, in that shared moment, nobody’s perspective is the same. We understand that here at The Athletic and it underpins how we are covering the 2026 men’s World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico.We are passionate about taking you to the heart of the action and telling you what’s happening, whatever your level of fandom. This might not be a particularly accessible World Cup for many reasons, but we want our coverage to really take you there.Let us hold your hand and guide you through the biggest World Cup in history. All of our World Cup coverage is free if you download The Athletic app, and we have a new World Cup page to make it easier to find what you care about.Why not start your day with our Daily Briefing, a short video telling you what’s happened and what’s coming up, or take a look at our daily recap and rankings as we ask the question: who really has the best chance of winning the whole thing? Please do subscribe to The Athletic FC newsletter if you haven’t already or, if you consider yourself a more curious fan, how about our tournament newsletter, The World Cup Briefing?Watch our World Cup TV show, The Athletic FC: Daily Cup, on Amazon Fire featuring James McNicholas, Tamerra Griffin and many more familiar faces or download The Athletic FC podcast — with new host Emma Paton and Adam Leventhal — before the games kick off, for unmissable debate around the biggest talking points in the game.And then the football starts. And life is always better when there’s a game on, right?We will have reporters at every one of the 104 games and are covering every game live, so we can really take you inside the action. We would love you to get involved too, and our experts are looking forward to interacting with you in the Discuss tabs during our live coverage. You can also join our World Cup WhatsApp group or tune in to our Tifo Watch-a-long with Joe Devine and team.If the U.S. national team is what you care about, there’s no better place to follow them than here with Paul Tenorio, Henry Bushnell and Tom Bogert leading our coverage. For all things Canada, Joshua Kloke has been with the team every step of the way in the build-up to this World Cup, while we also have experts and news breakers attached to England, Spain, Argentina, France and many more of the tournament favourites, as well as leading columnists from our North American newsroom.When the last ball has been kicked each day, it’s over to James Richardson and The Totally Football Show in Los Angeles to dissect the best of the action. And, rest assured, our reporting team will deliver the definitive journalism about the stories that matter during this tournament, whether you’re reading our on-the-whistle analysis in Chicago (yes, I know you don’t have any World Cup games) or waking up to a beautiful piece of sportswriting in Bangalore or Barcelona the next day.The build-up to this tournament has been challenging, to put it lightly, and we of course will continue to report on off-field news with the rigour you have come to expect from The Athletic. The latest Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, featuring the brilliant reporting of Adam Crafton, is a prime case in point.The transfer window is also open and we certainly won’t neglect fans of clubs across the globe, with our dedicated team coverage of Europe’s biggest sides continuing throughout the tournament. We will be running a Transfer DealSheet every Tuesday and the one and only David Ornstein will be based in the United States to do what he does best: break the news that fans know they can trust.There’s a lot going on, that’s for sure, but here at The Athletic we also try to remember that sports are supposed to be fun; a welcome escape from the world.So… we have devised a predictions game where you can pit yourself against our experts, fellow subscribers, a robot, a six-year-old child and a dog! Obviously. Add the Pick ‘Em page to your favourites and play along.For all you Games fans out there, we are also launching a World Cup edition of Soccer Connections, which will be available to play every day. And don’t stress — if you don’t consider yourself a fanatic, then this is still the game for you: we really hope we’ve made this accessible for all levels of fandom.This is also the thinking behind our World Cup simulator, which puts you in the know about your team’s chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds, or our World Cup calculator, to find out how much it would cost you to attend a game.Our Stars of Soccer, a searchable treasure trove of 200 of the best players at the tournament, is an essential resource for obsessives and those new to the game (get lost in it and then impress your friends, your partner, the person you want to be your partner or your kids with your knowledge!). You can even click a button and learn how to pronounce the players’ names properly.And don’t forget our Language of Soccer series, which puts you, the fans, at the forefront of our coverage. Which is exactly how it should be.The beautiful game, to me anyway, is beautiful for its simplicity but it’s even better when you are invested in what’s happening in front of you. That’s when you create memories that will last a lifetime.Enjoy it all (and good luck in our Pick ‘Em game!)Laura WilliamsonEditor-in-Chief, InternationalSpend your World Cup with The Athletic…