From VARgentina to excessive ticket pricing, we look at the five of the most talked about controversies at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

With a wartime host nation, eye-watering ticket prices and a ban overturned after a call from the White House, the 2026 tournament tested FIFA like no other.

From Iranian passport sagas and presidential card appeals to a final shaped by international dissent, North America’s showpiece exposed the myth that football exists in a vacuum.