As the 2026 World Cup draws to a close, this comment piece by Richard Partington questions whether the tournament's vast commercial and geopolitical machinery is overshadowing the sport itself. It argues that the World Cup has become far more than a football competition, functioning instead as a geopolitically charged economic juggernaut driven by sponsorship, advertising and soft-power projection from states and corporations alike.

Fifa estimates the tournament will add $40.9bn (£30.4bn) to global GDP, with the United States, as lead host alongside Canada and Mexico, accounting for almost half of that. An estimated 5 billion people watched at least part of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and this year's expanded format is expected to draw even greater global engagement, with Sunday's Spain v Argentina final forecast to attract an audience ten times that of the Super Bowl. Yet analysts, including those at Goldman Sachs and the US Federal Reserve, note the economic benefits to host nations are often marginal and short-lived, with spending largely redirected rather than newly created, while the article highlights concerns over Fifa's sponsorship roster, including Qatar Airways and Saudi Aramco, as evidence of soft power increasingly shaping the tournament.